The Rules of Life
by lifethatyouhate
Summary: The main rule of relationships can be summed up to the ever-famous "all's fair in love and war." But a big rule of friendship is that you never make a move on a guy your friend likes. Too bad Claire's got to learn all this the hard way.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it.

_"You are so self absorbed," Gray announced, pulling his hat down a little lower, sneering from beneath it. "Look, don't you have a _farm _you have to get back too?"_

_ "What are you talking about, I am _not _self absorbed!" Claire shot back. "You had something to say to me, I know you did, the second I walked in you said 'Oh!...Never mind…'"_

_ He rolled his eyes, but pulled his hat down even farther. Claire wondered if he was going to cover his entire face with it. "Maybe I just thought somebody else was going to come in. Goddess, see what I mean? Self absorbed…"_

_ "Gray, don't hassle Claire. She's a paying customer."_

_ Claire held the small wrapped present in her hands, setting it down on the counter. "Actually…I'm not a paying customer today. I brought Gray a birthday present. But…I'll just leave," she shot a disdainful look back at Gray, who actually looked like he _was_ trying to cover his face with that stupid hat, and then she stormed out._

"Ugh!" Claire shouted as she bustled into the library, tossing her backpack to the floor and collapsing in what she considered a rather strategically placed chair. Then again, some people actually came to the library to sit down and read, not to throw a fit. _Then again_, Claire added, _I've never seen anyone but Gray in the library._

Mary pushed her glasses higher up on the bridge of her nose and grinned at her friend. She had gotten a new pair a few weeks ago that she adored. Claire found them a little terrifying. They seemed to magnify the tiny girl's eyes. But that smile…that was her best friend. That was the only person who could calm her down after a fight with Gray. Her expression softened into a smile as the girl, now too close to her to be timid, asked, "Something wrong?"

Claire remembered her confrontation with Gray and then leapt to her feet theatrically, throwing her hands down on Mary's little counter. "Oh, something is _definitely _wrong. Something is crazily, insanely, humongously wrong with that stupid little blacksmith who can't just admit that he was going to say something, and who can't just say a simple thank you!"

The black haired girl grinned at the blonde. She was by far used to this exaggeration. "So, you took him his birthday present after all?" she inquired, trying not to laugh. _That _would have really set Claire off.

"Yes! Yes I did," she enunciated every word, stabbing her finger into the air through every syllable. "I give everyone a birthday present. I get them one of their favorite things and I wrap it up nice and I take it to them on their birthday. But I go in and he opens his mouth and then he's like, 'oh, never mind,' and so I was like, 'what is it,' and he's all," she took on an ugly expression, quoting in a baby voice, "'You are so self absorbed!' So then his grandpa tells him to play nice so I set the present down but he's too busy suffocating himself with that stupid hat!"

Mary covered her face with her hands, giggling beneath them. Claire kept on going though, her voice a dangerous low mumbling. "One day I am going to snatch that U-M-A hat off his head and reveal the ginger to the world! What does U-M-A even stand for? U-M-A!? Us Major Assh-,"

"Claire!" Mary interrupted, and Claire sighed, giving into the girl's shocked expression.

"Sorry, sorry. I forgot, you hate cursing. But really, isn't that so mean of him? He jumped as soon as he saw me, and then he just starts getting all stuttery, all 'I didn't have anything to say, no, of course not.' He frustrates me _so _much sometimes!"

Mary smiled thoughtfully. "Gray…is an acquired taste, Claire."

Claire wrinkled up her nose, but then a new, strange expression flooded her face. Realization and a little bit pang of _oh_. The big _oh _that girls hate. "You…you've already…uh…acquired that taste, haven't you?" she asked, her eyes huge.

The petite girl before her winced a bit. She had, perhaps, realized what Claire hadn't at that point. But she eventually smiled and said, "Well, it's just…he spends a lot of time in the library. And we've really gotten to know each other. I mean, you know he's here a lot."

Oh did Claire know. How many times had Mary witnessed a screaming match between the two, how many times had she stopped Claire from throwing her precious books, how many times had she reprimanded Gray for going, as Claire said, 'below the belt!?' The fights the girl had seen in her little library could have been considered exciting as first, but now the weekly shows merely bored her, along with Claire's typical argument of, "Mary, tell him to stop!" and Gray's, "Oh, yeah, go beg your friend to stop your insanity!" This time came, of course, when both ran out of witty insults.

"Yeah, I may have noticed," she said sheepishly. Last time Mary had actually told the two that they had to leave, desperately claiming it to be 'closing time' after Claire had managed to finally throw one of the books, and Gray had tried to fling it right back at her.

"And, well, I've known him since we were both really young. He's a really great guy…underneath it all."

"He's shown you what he's like, underneath it all?" Claire demanded, and when her friend blushed, she did as well, quickly saying, "No, not like that! Oh, forget it."

"I'm baking him cookies for Winter 14," Mary's cheeks filled with even more color. In fact, Claire had never seen her friend's cheeks any other shade but…well, white. "I hope he likes them…I don't actually know if he likes cookies…"

Claire thought for a moment and then grinned. "I'll ask him! Me and Gray talk tons, I'll just ask him if he likes cookies!"

Mary frowned. "Claire…the way you and Gray speak to each other…it can't exactly be considered 'talking…'"

Claire frowned as well, but then shrugged. "Oh, we've had a few nice conversations! Just last week, he brought me my new golden hammer and said, 'Break a leg,' which, you know, is how they say good luck in theaters. I don't think even _he's _heartless enough to really wish a broken leg on someone." She paused and then folded her arms, adding on, "Except for that one time…well, don't you worry your pretty little head Mary. I'll ask him. In fact, I'll find out what his favorite cookies are! In fact, I'll find out if he likes you!"

Mary's cheeks were as red as tomatoes now. Well, not Claire's tomatoes. She remembered that hers had never gotten beyond that sickly green shade…but Zack had paid fair money for them anyways, after she had convinced him that they just, "Need more time to ripen." She was covering her cheeks, saying, "Oh, Claire, really, that's too much…"

Perhaps she just meant, 'If you try and ask Gray if he likes me, you'll end up screaming at him, making it obvious I like him, and embarrassing me.' But Claire smiled nonetheless and said, "Well, okay. If you insist. But I'm going to find out about the cookies. Heck, if I have to, I'll say I'm going to get cookies for Cliff. Hey, maybe I will! I'll bake Cliff some cookies. And then take them to him and rub them in Gray's face because I am an excellent baker."

"You have a kitchen now?"

Claire looked down.

"Well, you can always borrow Ann's kitchen. I'm sure she wouldn't mind," Mary pointed out with a small smile, straightening out the papers she was holding furiously. Mary often fidgeted to rid herself of her nervous energy, and so Claire watched as she jammed the papers' edges onto the table over and over again, waiting for them to align themselves.

The blonde took the papers and neatly shifted them together herself, handing them back to Mary with a wide smile. "You're right. You're so smart, Mary. That's why I'm going to do this for you. In fact, next time I see Gray, I will be a perfect gentleman. Woman. Gentlewoman. Is that a word, Mary?"

Her friend was about to answer when the door swung open, and a high pitched squeak escaped her before Claire turned, frowning at Gray.

"Oh, _you're_ here." Mary coughed. "I mean, Oh! You're _here_, birthday boy! Yay! Hey, Mary, quick, get the streamers!"

Gray watched her with a raised eyebrow as Claire grinned back at Mary, who had her face in her hand, returning her friend's grin with a weak, half hearted smile as she peeped out between the cracks in her fingers.

"Look, Claire…about my present...well…" the boy folded his arms and took deep breaths, looking like he was really straining with something, and then finally he said, "I just wanted to say…" He stopped, wincing again.

Claire looked back at Mary with a pointed look that she hoped said _see, I told you he was a major asshole_ or else Mary would wonder if she was making 'that weird face' again. "Yes, Gray?" she asked sweetly, dusting off her overalls and wincing back at Mary when a cloud of dust raised into the air.

"I wanted to say…thanks. And…IguessI'msortofsorry."

"Sorry, didn't catch that?" Claire asked, cupping her hand over her hear with that same sickly sugary smile.

Gray growled. "You did too hear me, blondie."

"I'm sorry ginger, I'm a little hard of hearing when it comes to bull-," Claire snapped back, stopping when Mary's voice hissed, "Oh, gentlewoman!"

"Bulls!" Claire finished, cupping her ear again. "I think I heard bulls. Do they have bulls here in Mineral Town? Hmm…I did not know that. Well, Gray, I _suppose _I could forgive you." Mary coughed again. "I mean yes, yes, of course. I forgive you," she said with a heavy sigh.

"Whatever," the boy shrugged, tugging on his hat again, and Mary seized Claire's arm before the blonde could snatch it off like she had been planning. "Bye," he told Mary, shooting another look at Claire before he left.

Claire turned to her friend with a proud grin. "That went well, didn't it? See, I'll be getting him to divulge all of his little secrets to me in no time."

Mary put her head in both of her hands this time.

Author's Note: So I've already written this entire story. Hahaha I have a bad track record with updating on time, so I've got all of the chapters written already. I hope you guys liked the start, it's going to be fifteen (I'm pretty sure) chapters long, unless I switch it up later…I've got a ton of little plot points to mix in together. =p This idea came to me because of a little love triangle thing I got stuck in, and I thought it would be perfect for this…though at this point not much is happening, don't worry. It'll get more interesting (hopefully) as time goes on haha. Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it! :)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters.

The next day, Claire finished with her farm work early, and while she was in the mine, tried desperately to come up with a way to ask Gray what his favorite cookies were and actually get an answer.

"Well Gray," she told the rock before her, holding her hammer over her head. "I was wondering what your favorite cookies are because I would like to make Cliff cookies and I thought that since you guys spend so much time together you might…oh, that's no use, he'll never listen to me for that long," she sighed, bringing the hammer down and smashing the rock, which left behind a golden ore.

She picked it up and smiled. It wasn't like she didn't have fifteen more of those in her basket, but every time she saw one of those ores it made her grin. And maybe, it would make a certain blacksmith who loved making things out of ores grin too…and be happy enough to answer a simple question for her best friend, who was already disappointed enough in her.

"Okay, how's this?" she asked the ore with a smile. "Hey, Gray. I got you something. Oh, you love it? Well, you're very welcome. Hey, can I ask you something? I was thinking of making Cliff some cookies for Winter 14. Do you know what his favorite cookies are? Sugar? Oh, thanks. What are your favorites?"

Well, if she gave him an ore that she could have shipped for 100 G, he could at least give her a simple answer, right? She put it into her pack with one last smile, heaved her basket up and over her head, and hurried out of the mines.

When she got to the blacksmith's, she was greeted by the familiar shout of Gray's grandfather. "You botched _another _broach, Gray? It's not that difficult!" he was bellowing.

"I wonder if…if…he'll be angry if I come in…" she started, but then Rick opened the door and found her standing there.

"Oh, Claire!" he exclaimed, despite her frantic head shaking. "You coming in to get one of your tools upgraded?"

Saibara shot her a look. If she told him she had come for Gray and not a new tool one more time, she thought he might snap on her. "Yes, I did, actually. I have some spare silver to upgrade my…watering can." That _had _to be the one of the few tools left that she didn't have upgraded. "And since it's winter…this is the perfect time." Once you start one lie, the rest are either painfully difficult to come up with, or blisteringly easy.

The old man looked surprisingly more cheerful after she had handed over her watering can, a silver ore, and 5000 G that she had worked so hard for. "…Thanks, Saibara. I appreciate it," she mumbled, looking sadly at the 5000 G he greedily clutched so tightly his knuckles were white.

"No, no, Claire, thank you," the old man said, and then shot a rueful look. "And don't worry. With that craftsmanship," he gestured to the broach, "I'll be the one working on your watering can, not my apprentice."

Gray met her eyes with a dark look. Ignoring him, Claire peered over at the broach, which looked fine to her. Plus, a little kissing up could never hurt. "I think that's really lovely, actually. I mean, I would buy it," she said, with a big smile, adjusting her pack as she prepared to ask Gray to please answer her damn question so she could leave.

"Really?" Saibara asked, and then shrugged. "Well, it's yours for 1500 G, then."

Claire stiffened and then smiled again. "I can really have it?" she asked in a monotone, pulling out 1500 G. "That's…fantastic."

"Yeah, 500 G discount, too. You're real lucky, Claire," the old man told her, taking the money from her. 6500 G just to ask Gray what his favorite cookies were. The day was turning out great.

"That's me…lucky. That's what they used to call me back in the city, in fact." Sarcastically, actually. When she had slipped and fallen in the halls of her high school while heading into the front row of the assembly, she had been forced to withstand, "Hey, lucky!" throughout the halls, while others chose, "Hey, puddles!" Nobody was very witty back in the city, now that she thought of it…

"Gray, give Claire the broach. And would you mind watching the shop for a bit? I promised I would deliver this new axe to Barley." Of course. Barley was as close to a best friend as Saibara would ever have.

Gray shrugged, looking stunned. "Uh…sure, grandpa. Okay."

Claire watched as Saibara left and then thought about all her money in that cash register. It wouldn't be too hard to reach in and take it back, would it? She would take her watering can and ore too, it wouldn't be fair to make them do the work…and she could do without the broach…

The UMA wearing bigmouth, as Claire sometimes affectionately called him, cleared his throat and she spun, looking at the broach he held out to her.

"Uh…thanks, Claire. Again," he frowned at this revelation that he had actually thanked the girl twice in the past two days. _I'm not a big fan of it either_, Claire wanted to say, but instead she took the broach- how could Saibara call it botched? It looked beautiful- and then admitted that it was worth the 1500 G to herself, trying unsuccessfully to pin it to her shirt over and over again.

The watering can though…now that was not worth 5000 G. Who cared if she had a silver watering can? It was just going to get dirty and rusty all over again.

"You want me to help you?" Gray asked, smirking a bit. Of course, he couldn't even offer his help without making fun of her.

_Gentlewoman_, Claire had told herself. Mary had said that it wasn't a real word, but Claire liked it nonetheless.

That was when it hit her like a wave. As she nodded and let Gray's surprisingly nimble fingers fasten the broach to her shirt, she realized that this little blacksmith was the boy Mary had her eyes set on.

He raised an eyebrow. "Why are you staring at me?" he asked, pulling his hands back and folding his arms.

"Oh. Nothing. Thanks," Claire shrugged. Whatever Mary saw in him, Claire sure didn't see it. Tough face, broad shoulders, muscular build, angry expression. _Oh, yeah, what a dream_. She reached over her shoulder, felt for the familiar smoother edges of the gold ore, and then pulled it out of the pack, holding it out towards him. "I got this for you too. For…um…" _I knew I should have just stuck to the speech I prepared_. "For a peace offering. Yes. This is a peace offering."

"Why are you talking like that?" Gray frowned.

_I guess my voice is starting to sound a little robotic_, Claire admitted to herself. "Are you going to accept your peace offering or not?" she snapped. Losing 6500 G- 6600 G if you counted that gold ore- could do that to you.

6600 G. All of that hard work, lost in less than five minutes. How long she had been saving up that money for a new house extension?

Easy come, easy go. Or, in her case; Hard come, easy go.

"Okay, okay," he rolled his eyes, but smirked a bit. "Thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome, I guess," Claire retorted, and then they stood there staring at each other, arms folded.

"Did Mary make you do this?" Gray asked finally. "I mean, she seemed kind of mad last time we were fighting…" he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, we threw books. I think that's the number one rule of libraries. Not that I would know for sure, though. I mean, those things should really be written down so we can tell for sure."

Gray rolled his eyes again, but he still had a small grin. That was a good sign. A small smile, 6600 G, a peace offering…it was time to pop the question.

"I need to ask you something," Claire stated, and his eyes widened. "Not anything huge, or anything! It's just…you and Cliff are close, right?"

He shrugged. "I guess. We're friends…we share the same room…so," he just shrugged again to emphasize his cluelessness.

"Well, I was wondering…you know how Winter 14 is coming up?" I paused, and he slowly nodded his head, making a face. "Well, I was wondering if you knew what Cliff's favorite cookies were, so I could make him some."

Gray looked shocked. "You're…you're…_courting _Cliff?" he demanded.

Claire made a face as well. "Courting?! Who said anything about courting? I'm just trying to be nice! Goddess, courting."

"You only give cookies to people you _like _Claire," Gray told me, still looking stunned.

The girl folded my arms. "For your information, I'm making several guys cookies. Cliff, Rick, Dr. Trent, Carter, Stu…all of my friends. Guy friends. Male friends. I was…I was gonna make you some too! I wanted to know what Cliff's favorite cookies are, and I wanted to know what yours were. But if you'd rather I didn't make you any, well then, fi-i-ine."

Gray frowned and then rolled his eyes for the millionth time. "You're going to make all of us cookies?"

"Yes. Yes, I am. I am a very polite person."

"You threw a book at me!"

"I am _usually _a very polite person, Gray!" she snapped. "That was a one time thing!"

"Was not! Mary just stopped you all the other times!"

"Exactly, Gray! She stopped me. Because I asked her too." He looked like he was about to argue again, so Claire said, "Okay, okay, I threw a book at you and I tried to other times! But I've given you a peace offering and bought your _lovely _broach, so can you just tell me what your favorite cookies are?"

He heaved a heavy sigh. "Fine! Whatever. Cliff and I both like chocolate chip. Almost everyone on this island does. Except for Carter. When you make his cookies, you have to pound peppermint and put it in. That's the only way he'll eat them."

"Where do you even get peppermint?" The rancher asked, making a face.

Gray looked at her as if it were obvious. "Popouri sells it, she bought a ton in the city last year! You can get it for 300 G."

"300?" she demanded, my jaw dropped. "Do you know how much money I've spent today?"

"6500 G?" he asked simply.

If Claire had had a book in my hand, she would have flung it at him. Luckily, they were not in a library- Mary was the only one who really had any books in the town- and so she upheld her side of the peace offering. "That is correct. Okay. I am going to go ask Ann if I can bake cookies in her kitchen. After I get the peppermint from Popuri. Thank you, Gray."

He hesitated. "Uh…yeah, you're welcome, Claire. Thanks…"

"No problem, Gray," the blonde told him with her best, friendliest smile, and then headed out to Popuri's to spend even more money.

Author's Note: So there's chapter two. Haha, I hope you guys like it so far. This chapter was probably my favorite. Hopefully you guys like it a lot too! Thanks for reading. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters.

"Well...because you're my friend," Ann giggled, "I'll help you bake all of those cookies. And it'll only cost you 500 G to use our kitchen for a day!"

Claire merely nodded her head. _What am I up to now?_ _7400 G?_ There was the 5000 G for the watering can, 1500 G for the broach, 100 G that the ore would have brought her, 300 G for the peppermint, and 500 G for the kitchen usage.

_ Yup. 7400 G._

"Thanks, Ann. I really appreciate it. Is there anyone you're going to be baking cookies for?" Claire asked her, elbowing her playfully. Sure, she would have to fish like crazy after she visited Mary to tell her just how much she had done for her, she would have to spend a lot of times in the mines the next few days, and she would have to put off the house extension for a while…but it wasn't like she was going to get married anytime soon. The extension, the big bed…it would probably be useless in the long run. Making her friend happy, settling things with Gray, delighting most of the single males of Mineral Town…well, she supposed that was worth it.

Ann's cheeks barely turned pink. It took a lot to make _her _blush. "Well, actually…" she started, a small smile winding its way onto her lips, "I think I'm going to make some for Cliff. But…I'm not that good of a cook."

"Oh…neither am I…we're going to need to find someone who _is _good at cooking to help both of us," Claire murmured, drifting off.

Ann grinned. "My dad! He'll be perfect. He won't mind, either, as long as we bake him an extra batch," she giggled.

Claire breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Goddess. This is perfect! Thanks Ann, really. I appreciate it a lot."

"No problem, Claire," the red head replied, swiping at the tables with her wet rag while Claire did the same several tables away. Every time Claire came to visit Ann, in fact, she ended up helping the girl clean. It wasn't that she ever asked- it was just how bored Ann seemed, how wistfully she looked out the windows. The Inn was never quite big enough to hold all of _her _energy. "So, tell me. What's up with the sudden urge to get everyone cookies?"

"I'm a compassionate person?" Claire suggested, grinning at her friend as she moved to a table closer to her, scrubbing a little harder. _Don't ask any more questions. Even _I'm_ starting to wonder why I went through all this just to find out what Gray's favorite cookies are._

Ann straightened up, putting her hands on her hips. "Claire, you threw a book at Gray-," "One time!" "And now you're going to bake him a batch of cookies for Valentine's Day? I mean, it's a little weird."

"I'm just trying to fix things. I want to apologize to Gray. I want to cheer up Cliff. I want to give Rick a present because I'm such good friends with his sister, it's not fair not to be nice to him. I want to give Dr. Trent a gift as thanks for taking care of me when I passed out. I want to thank Carter for all the things he's done for me. I want to give some to Stu because he told me that he's never gotten cookies before last week and he was sort of hinting."

Now _those _sounded like good reasons, right? Claire hoped they did at least. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that these were perfect reasons. Maybe she should make even more!

She thought of all the money, all the baking, all the work she would have to do to get back to where she was, all the work in the kitchen, all the explaining and running around…it was best to just give them to those few bachelors she had already chosen.

"That's so sweet of you Claire!" Ann exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips, cocking her head to the side. "Here I was just trying to butter Cliff up, and you're doing a really nice thing for all the townies." _Townies_, Claire chuckled to herself. Ann was always trying to come up with cute little words. "I'm honored that you actually asked _me _to help," the red head grinned.

Claire laughed, shrugging. "Well, you were the first person I thought of asking to help me. Who else would I ask?" she added on.

"Mary, Popuri, Karen…" Ann suggested teasingly, though her smile was a little forced.

_When was the last time I came to see Ann_? Claire wondered. _Oh yeah, after I got kicked out of the library…I haven't stopped by for two weeks?_ "I'm sorry I don't come by so often, Ann," the blonde apologized meekly. "I've just been so caught up in other stuff…" Hating Gray, convincing Mary to bend the library rules just for her, harvesting, mining, ranching…it seemed like all the free time she had she used to go to Mary's library, collapse into that chair and drone on about her day. "I'll come by more often though. I promise."

"Oh, it's okay Claire," Ann said, losing her sad look already. "You're a rancher! You have _tons _of stuff to do all day! I don't blame you. But I appreciate it all the same," she chuckled.

Claire smiled as well and then looked up at the clock, wincing. "Aw, but I have to go now. I'm sorry…I'll come by and see you tomorrow, probably. I've got to run down to the library, I have to tell Mary about something…" _Something_. _Understatement of the year! _Claire wanted to scream. She was stuck doing all this stuff just so that she could help her friend get the guy. Get Gray. Get the guy, Gray.

"Alright, sure. Are you okay? You looked sort of…sad all of a sudden…" Ann spoke carefully, stepping forward and setting a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder, giving her that typical big smile she always wore.

The girl grinned in no time. "Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know what came over me. Thanks Ann. See you tomorrow!" she called over her shoulder, already out the door.

Ann smiled, going back to scrubbing the tables.

_"What are _you_ doing here?" Claire asked, folding her arms as Gray headed towards her farm, looking equally annoyed._

_ "Don't act like I actually wanted to come here," he spat back at her. "I fixed your watering can, farmgirl." He held it out and they both looked at the withering plants on the ground. "You know, those are going to die."_

_ Claire snatched the watering can. "Thank you, Captain Obvious! I've been trying to water them without my watering can, but…cupping water in my hand and then running over here doesn't work as well as I thought."_

_ "Are there fish in your watering hole?" Gray frowned, watching several of the fish swimming around._

_ Claire frowned as well. _What am I supposed to tell him? _She wondered. _I can't exactly say those are my pets, or he'll think I'm _really _weird. _"Does it matter?" she asked. "My crops are going to _die_. I am a terrible farmer. Ugh, why did I even bother trying to come here?" she asked more herself than him as she slowly filled the watering can, trying not to let the fish get in._

_ "Oh, don't worry," Gray mumbled behind her. "They'll be fine. Just one day of a good watering and they should be back to normal."_

_ The girl stared down at her full watering can for a moment before rising, turning to face him with a, "How do you know that?" He rolled his eyes, but she tacked on, "Not in a mean way. Just, honestly, how do you know that? Where did you learn stuff about farming?"_

_ He shrugged. "I don't know. I picked some of it up at the library."_

_ "The library? I haven't gone there yet," Claire made a face. In fact, she didn't even _know _there was a library. _

_ The blacksmith shrugged again. "It's quiet there. Hardly nobody is ever in there. Empty."_

_ "Sounds…peaceful…" Claire said thoughtfully._

_ "Yeah, I'm sure it'll be _so _peaceful with you in there," Gray sneered, staring down at the dying crops._

_ The blonde took this as the end of their normal conversation, retorting, "Oh, and you're so calm and nice? I bet the librarian hates you!"_

_ "Not as much as she's gonna hate you, farmgirl!"_

How wrong she had been.

"Oh, Claire," Mary giggled as soon as she had finished the story, having heard all of her misfortune and watched her act it out, too. "You _really _didn't have to do all that. Oh, I feel terrible. You've had such an awful day. Come on, sit down. I'll go get you something to drink. Thank you Claire. Really. You're such a good friend."

Just like that, Claire was reminded why she had gone through all that. _To make my best friend happy,_ she smiled, taking the seat she was offered. _With Gray_. She frowned.

"So…does this mean you and Gray aren't going to scream at each other anymore?" Mary inquired carefully, hesitating at the little door that led her back to her house.

Claire thought about it for a moment. "Probably not. But we'll hold off until after Winter 14. Watch him say something awful when I give him his cookies though, about how _gross _they are or why am I _wasting _my time," she huffed, mad already, folding her arms. "That sounds just like him."

Mary burst into her tiny giggles again. "You're right, Claire. He probably will. You two just…just aren't meant to be friends, I guess," she shrugged apologetically, heading into her house, closing the door behind her.

Claire stared at the floor, mulling that over. _Just aren't meant to be friends_. Well, she had never thought that she and Gray were exactly enemies. And sometimes they got along okay, right? The girl sighed, looking at the door, wondering if he would come by again.

In all of these seasons of feuding, she had never thought that they _really _hated each other.

Author's Note: Hopefully some of you can understand Claire's situation. I've gone through it before- always arguing with someone, but always sort of considering them a friend. Telling them my problems, but still arguing about them. Haha anyways, thanks for the reviews so far. I appreciate it a lot. :) Hopefully you enjoyed this, thanks for reading! (I know I say that at the end of every chapter of every story, but I always mean it. :D)


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters.

Time passed by quickly. Time in which Claire spent all of her time from eight o' clock, when she finished with the animals, to three o' clock in the mines. She would then run back to her farm to dump that in the shipping bin and fish until five, shipping those right when Zack came, before running off to visit Mary- the library was always closed by then, so of course she only saw her at her house- and then running to the Inn.

"Tomorrow," Ann told her on Winter 12, "we need to _really _start cooking. Come over here by twelve, okay? After you finish with your animals and all that mining. Then we'll start hashing these out. Right Dad?"

"Right! As long as I get a batch," he grinned over at the two girls, who laughed in sync, simultaneously calling out, "No problem!"

"So, that's seven batches of chocolate chip- two for Cliff from each of us, then my dad, then Gray, Stu, Dr. Trent, and Rick- and one batch of peppermint for Carter," Ann counted on her fingers, sighing. "I hate baking."

"I thought you loved cooking?" Claire asked, putting her hands on her hips in a mirror image of Ann's constant position, making the red head laugh.

When she had stopped laughing, _she _set _her _hands on her hips as well, shrugging. "I like cooking when I get to enter it in contests, or enjoy the fruits of my labor. But I don't like cooking for picky Carter or for stuck up Gray," she stuck her tongue out.

Claire laughed. "Well, Carter will bless us in return and Gray…well…he'll tell me, 'Thanks, I guess,' and that'll be good enough for me, I guess. Cliff will be ecstatic though, just think about it. I don't think anyone has made him cookies for this thing yet," she pointed out.

Ann smiled, shrugging. "Well…yeah, you're right. It'll really cheer him up. He always seems so down…"

"Exactly! Alright, I will be here tomorrow at noon then, I promise! I've got to head home, I'm so tired," the blonde yawned and then laughed at herself. "I think I overworked myself today."

"Seriously," Ann said, looking a little concerned. "You sure you don't want to get something to eat first, Claire? It would be discounted for you, of course!"

_Discounts_, Claire thought carefully to herself. Everyone in town was always offering her a discount. Discount for messed up materials like Saibara, discount for less food, discount to be fair. Ann always gave her a discount simply because they were friends, and she wanted her to get plenty to eat.

The blonde hugged her friend briefly, shaking her head in the process. "No, it's okay, Ann. But thanks. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm just going to get home and crash. I'm done for the day," she giggled as she pulled away, letting herself out soon after to avoid more of Ann's protests. The girl could be very convincing when she wanted.

"Why do I have to live so far away?" Claire whined to herself, barely able to get that out without yawning. "I'm _sooo_ tired…" Every step she took, watching the footprints form in the dirt, seemed to take her _farther _away from her destination, but she knew she was going the right way. _Trick of the eyes_, she told herself. _I'm just tired and being a baby_.

That shadowy figure about to turn the corner as she neared it, that was a trick too, she figured. _I _am _being a baby, now I'm dreaming up killers in the shadows. Really, Claire? What kind of killer would come to Mineral Town? What would they even take from us? Unless they went to Saibara's where, I'm sure in no time at all, he'll end up with my entire life savings…_

"Claire?"

"Ah!" she screamed at the figure , raising her hands up in self defense. In retrospect, she probably should have pulled out her hoe or a sickle or something she could have used as a weapon- she always carried all of her tools in her pack for some reason- but that didn't occur to her. Hopefully, she thought when she looked back on the situation, if she wasn't tired and it was really a killer, she would have pulled her sickle out. Light and sharp. Even if she didn't know how to use it…

"It's me!" Gray's voice shouted back, yanking her into the light, easily holding her arms down when she began to flail them around. "Have you gotten weaker?" he questioned.

_How would be know_? Claire wondered, and then remembered that one time they had been trying to knock each other over, but were equally strong and just kept holding on to each other until they had to admit that wasn't working. In fact, that was the first day Claire had tried to throw a book at him.

"I am not weak," she pouted, finally letting her arms hang uselessly where he held them in the air. "I'm tired. I usually only go in the mines until about three, but this time I wasn't paying attention, stayed until five, then went fishing and chased after Zack to give him those, then went to Mary's at seven, and then I went to the Inn and now it is…nine o' clock and I think I am going to collapse.

The blacksmith smirked a bit, letting go of her arms. "You know, you really shouldn't overwork yourself, farmgirl. You really are going to end up collapsing if you keep going on like that," he gestured for her to start walking, heading back in the direction he had come from with her.

"Am not. I will never coll-," she didn't get to finish that, because that shadowy figure on the ground was not a trick of her eyes, it was a rock, and she tripped and fell into the dirt, groaning at the impact.

Gray looked a tad like he was trying not to laugh, but when she spun around to push herself up he seized her hands and easily hoisted her up, snorting here and there with the laughter he held in. "Are you okay?" he managed to ask, letting go as she began to dust herself off, cringing when she moved her elbow.

"Yeah…you can go ahead and laugh if you want. I would laugh at myself too. Only I tried to break my fall for a while there and I hit my elbow and…now it is bleeding," she stated very matter-of-factly as she held it up to the street lamps that never covered enough ground. It wasn't life threatening or anything, but sure enough, she was bleeding. "I should have trusted my instinct. I _knew _it was a rock…"

Gray made a face and then grabbed onto her- as she called it- 'good arm,' pulling her down the street, which was a good thing, because she was a little disoriented. She had spun around a few times, and all she saw now was dark with patches of blinking, faulty street lights. "Come on, Claire. Watch out for any stray rocks, they're real killers."

"Ha ha. Very funny. You should really be a comedian Gray, I can see it now, headlines! Presenting Gray…whatever your last name is."

The red head- or at least Claire had heard that he was a red head beneath that hat, though she had never really seen for herself- turned to her in the light so that she could see him roll his eyes, but there was a small smirk there, and so Claire didn't chastise herself for being too 'annoying.'

When he had lead her all the way to her farmhouse, she flicked on the front light, and he made a disgusted face. Just as she was about to start in on how he wasn't all that great to look at either- she was struggling hard to come up with some flaws of his to point out, noting that his only flaw was that she couldn't see enough of him with that stupid hat- he noticed her expression and quickly explained, "Your elbow. It's…"

She looked at it and saw blood and dirt all jumbled together, caking over her elbow as it hardened. "Ugh," she wrinkled up her nose. "Hey, no wonder if stung. All the dirt…well, this is pleasant," she hid her elbow from sight, twisting it painfully behind her back, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Yeah…you should probably wash it…" the boy mumbled, shrugging. "Well…bye."

"Wait!" Claire exclaimed. _Oh, don't say it, don't say it_, she pleaded with the sensible side of herself. "Thank you…for helping me up…and walking me here…so I didn't kill myself," the sensible side explained.

And then the rash side took over.

"And do you hate me? Do you _really _hate me?" she asked, frowning at him, folding her arms and then cringing when she remembered one elbow was a bloody mess.

Gray gaped at her. "Huh? What are you talking about?" he asked her, raising one eyebrow, stammering, stuttering.

_Typical Gray_, Claire huffed to herself. _You ask him one question and he starts getting all flustered. I didn't propose or something! _"It's just that…someone kind of hinted…that you hate me. And it was just bugging me. Because I don't _hate_ anyone and I don't want anyone to _hate _me. I mean, I know I've told you a few times I hate you, but I don't _really _hate you hate you. I just get frustrated sometimes…with you…" her voice subsided to a squeak as he just stared at her.

Finally he said, "No…I don't hate you either, Claire."

"Okay. Good. Alright," she turned with a grin, preparing to walk into her house.

She hadn't opened the door yet.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, looking over at him as he put his fist over his mouth, trying very hard not to laugh. "Well," she started, swinging open her door, catching her dog when he tried to escape. "I guess I'll…I'll uh…well I will see you in two days! On the 14th! Alright bye!" she exclaimed, hurrying into her home before she embarrassed herself any further, slamming the door behind her.

"Kanta, do you think I made a fool of myself?" Claire asked her puppy, crouching down to be at his level.

Kanta barked and then rolled over waving his paws in the air.

"I know I fell, you don't have to make fun of me!" Claire scolded playfully before rubbing his stomach, hurrying to the sink when she saw her elbow.

As she scrubbed it, cringing at the sting, she thought about what Mary had said…_ "You two just…just aren't meant to be friends, I guess." _And what had Claire told Mary just the other day? That she was the smartest person she knew.

For the first time ever, Claire silently hoped that Mary was wrong about this one thing.

Author's Note: Haha, sorry, not Winter 14 yet. Next chapter? ;D But hopefully you guys liked this one. This was another one of my favorites. I thought some actual interaction between Gray and Claire might help. :) So thanks to those of you who have reviewed! I really do appreciate it a lot. I don't know, reviews always encourage me to hurry up haha. =P Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter as much as I did, and thank you for taking the time out of your day to read it. :D


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it.

"Is there a reason you wanted to borrow my dictionary, Claire?" Rick frowned as the rancher looked through said dictionary, flipping through the pages quickly, searching…

"Yes! Would I just barge in and ask to see your dictionary if there wasn't a reason? Of course there's a reason!" Claire snapped. _Goddess, what an idiot. And I have to make _him_ cookies in ten minutes._

She looked over at the boy to make sure she hadn't hurt his feelings, but he merely rolled his eyes and shrugged. He was rather used to Claire's eccentrics by now, and since she supplied them with most of their money, he had probably made a pact long ago to just ignore her 'comebacks,' as she called them.

"Here it is! Look at this! Rick come here, come back!" Claire shouted when he tried to walk away, and he grumbled to himself as he turned and headed back. "Look, look, look, look! Read that! Read what I'm pointing at."

He looked at her for a long time. "You're kidding, right?" She narrowed her eyes. "Okay, okay, fine! Gentlewoman. Noun. A woman of good family; a woman of the nobility; a woman of refinement. Happy?"

"Yes! I am extremely happy! Do you want to know _why _I'm happy? Do you want me to explain it to you now?" she asked the boy, who was dusting his dictionary off as she spoke, setting it carefully back where it came from. She had racked her brain over who besides Mary might possibly have books, thinking that maybe she was wrong, that _someone _had some, and luckily Rick did. Though that was the only book he had, next to some books about plants and chickens.

"Not really…okay, okay, fine," he added on when she heaved a heavy sigh.

"Someone that I…_used _to know, that's right! Someone I knew back in the city, long, long, long time ago, told me that I would never get to be friends with someone. I trusted her, because she was so smart but _she _said that gentlewoman is not a word, and it is! Gentlewoman _is _a word!" She flung her arms around the boy she semi-affectionately referred to as chicken boy, saying, "I'll thank you for this, just you wait!" Before she hurried out the door.

She was about to keep going when she looked at Saibara's across the street. "My watering can…" she whispered to herself, crossing the path and leaning against the door. She didn't hear any screaming, so maybe it would be safe…

She opened the door carefully, but Saibara wasn't even there. In fact, nobody was. "Saibara?" she called, not daring to step inside and let the door close behind her. If she did that, he would have her head, call her a shoplifter, charge her another 5000 G! "Gray?" she added on hopefully. "Well…okay…I guess I'll come back later…"

"Claire, what are you doing?" a voice asked behind her, and she spun around her eyes wide as she looked at Gray.

"Nothing! I was _not _stealing, I swear!" He raised an eyebrow. "No really, I wasn't. Sorry. I panicked. What are you doing…not in there?"

He smirked a bit, purposefully failing to stifle his laughter. "Claire…it's Thursday. I just forgot to lock the doors. Shouldn't you be baking, anyways? You've got _tons _to do," he mocked her.

She ignored him as she stepped back, letting him lock the doors. "As a matter of fact, I do. I'm heading over to Ann's right now. I have to bake eight batches of cookies…" she groaned a little to herself, but kept on a forced smile as she added on, "I'm so excited," in the same monotone he had mocked her for before.

He rolled his eyes. "You sure you're not just courting Cliff?"

"I'm positive! I think I would know if I was courting someone and _no_, I am not courting anybody."

"Hey, Claire, you left your pack here!" Rick called, hurrying out from his home with her pack in his hands, holding it out to her. "Good thing you stopped to talk to Gray, I thought I was going to have to go find you somewhere."

Claire's cheeks burned as Gray folded his arms pointedly. "Thanks, Rick. I appreciate it," she told him as he nodded, shooting a small wave at the pair before he retreated to his home. She turned back to face Gray's disapproving look. "I'm not courting him either, okay? I just needed to do something this morning, and he was the only one with a dictionary."

"You know that place you always go to, where you go to visit your friend? It's called a library," Gray told her, rolling his eyes.

The blonde narrowed hers. "I couldn't go to the library, Gray, okay? I couldn't go there to check in Mary's dictionary. Goddess, just leave me alone if…if…if you're just going to get all into my personal life!"

He rolled his eyes again. "Why would I want to get into your personal life? You _are _self absorbed."

"I am _not _self absorbed you're the one always asking if I'm courting Cliff-,"

"You're giving him cookies on Valentine's Day Claire, what do you expect me to think-,"

"I'm baking you cookies too! And tons of guys!"

"Oh, that makes it sound so much better!"

"Ugh!" Claire shouted. "Why do you do this? Why are you so nice one day and then such an asshole the next! Why?!"

Gray scoffed. "What do you expect me to say, you're making all of the guys in the town cookies, you're running around at other's people's houses, I don't even know why you wasted money on that," he gestured to the broach. "I don't get it! I don't get _you_! I don't understand anything you do!"

The blonde girl stared at him and thought of Mary. She thought hard of her best friend then, she thought hard of what her best friend saw. What had she said? _Look in his eyes, Claire. He's not that bad, really._

She stared hard into his blue eyes, and she saw…vulnerability? Or maybe they were just in bad light.

"Stop staring at me! See, you're so confusing! One minute, you're shouting at me, and the next you're just staring up at me! Ugh, I'm going to the library," he told her, rolling his eyes as he sidestepped her, heading down the street.

"Because he'd rather be at the library…" Claire murmured to herself. "With Mary. You must be happy, Mary," she tacked on, smiling over at the library. "You two like each other. Don't let it get messed up."

"What's wrong, Claire?" Ann asked three batches of cookies later. They had made Complicated Carter his first, ending up with most of the peppermint Claire had bought spilling on the floor as they tried to mash it into tiny pieces. Then they had worked together to make Ann's batch for Cliff and her father, and now they were moving onto the rest of Claire's presents.

"I just got into an argument with someone," Claire murmured, shrugging sadly as she let her anger out on her stirring, mashing the cookie mix around in the bowl until Ann's father said, "I think that's good, Claire."

"Let me guess…Gray?" Ann asked, hands on her hips. "That boy! Sometimes I just want to knock some sense into him!" she shouted more at the cookie dough she was picking the chocolate chips out of then Claire.

"Ann!" her father scolded, laughing as he snatched the bowl away, pulling out a cookie scoop to get it onto the pan quicker. He had a lot of orders and a lot more cookies to make for other people after the girls finished theirs, and so he was hurrying them along as fast as possible.

Claire laughed in spite of her sadness. "It's okay, Ann. I don't know. He just…he doesn't say anything _terrible_, not really. But it's just…he really hurts my feelings. Without even trying too."

"Oh, you just ignore Gray. Whatever he says about you, he's just saying to get a reaction. Don't you forget that, okay?" she poked her spoon at the blonde, only pulling it away again when the girl giggled. "Now let's get onto cookies. You want to just skip his batch?"

"No, no, let's make it for him anyways. Don't worry," she told Doug, "I'm getting better at this, so it shouldn't take much longer, I'll try and hurry as much as possible."

He waved his hand. "Oh, it's okay. I always end up working late into the night anyways. Girls come so late, demanding that they've decided they're going to do it, they're going to give the boy they like cookies and they need me to bake some for them," he chuckled. "It's one of my favorite days of the year."

"Daddy only says that because of all the cookies _he _gets," Ann teased, leaning her head on his shoulder until he had to put the cookie sheet in the oven.

"Oh, really?" Claire asked jokingly, laughing along with her friend.

"Yup! I get him some, Ellen bakes some for all the guys so he gets some too, and even _Sasha _and _Lillia _make him some," Ann giggled.

Doug laughed. "Lillia only makes me cookies because we have always helped take care of her, and Sasha is married, hon," he scolded teasingly.

"Tell that to Jeff," Ann shrugged, making the three of them burst out into laughter.

At six o' clock, Claire loaded up a spare bag of Doug's with the plates that were in turn loaded with cookies and wrapped tight. "Thank you two so much!" she added on after her regular good bye at the door.

"No problem!" Ann told her with a grin.

"Have a fun time passing all of those out tomorrow," Doug called teasingly as Claire laughed, letting the door close behind her.

"I'll go see what Mary's doing," the blonde announced to herself. Hopefully she hadn't chickened out, and had made her cookies as well.

But when she rounded the corner, she didn't have to go very far to see what she was doing. Her and Gray were standing there, her sheepishly holding out cookies. "I know it's still just Winter 13 but…in case I don't see you tomorrow…I wanted you to have these," the girl told him innocently, rubbing her foot into the dirt.

Gray grinned. "Wow, really? Thanks Mary. That's nice of you."

Claire stood there, staring, until Mary looked at her, and then she put on her best smile, holding her hand in a thumbs up sign as she tore off towards her house, blindly dodging any shadowy figures, stumbling but always catching herself, until she reached her barn, where she let her cookies and pack fall and collapsed onto the hay next to her horse's feet, having finally tripped and fallen over the pack she had just set down.

"Hi, Ezra," she murmured meekly. "Wanna cheer me up like you always do?"

Ezra nuzzled into Claire's shoulder, making the girl laugh.

"You mind if I tell you a secret, Ezra?" she asked, and when the horse whinnied she took that as a yes, giggling. "You have to stay quiet about it!" she scolded, and the horse lowered his head, looking at her in the eye. "I think I might have a crush on…" she peered around carefully. "That mean little blacksmith. The one who is trying to insinuate that I want to hook up with everyone in Mineral Town. The one who made this broach," she stuck her chest out, and Ezra examined it.

"Only…you know…my best friend is Mary. You remember her, right?" Ezra whinnied again. "Yeah, she came by and brought you sugar cubes. You love her. Everyone loves her," she added sadly. "Including Gray."

Ezra whinnied loudly.

"I know, I know. The first rule about relationships is that all's fair in love and war. But…the first rule of friendships is that you don't make a move on the people your friends like. Besides," she added quietly, "Even if I did try…it wouldn't really matter, would it? He wouldn't like me…because he likes Mary…"

Ezra whinnied again, and Claire picked up her things, heading out of the stable. "Thanks for the talk, Ezra," she mumbled, dragging her pack through the snow as she walked to her house.

Author's Note: I know, I know, this is a sad chapter. D: But as many girls and boys know, this is a pretty sad situation. Actually, I got the inspiration for it from something that I'm going through, only it doesn't look like I'm going to get to the ending Claire's gonna get. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, you'll have to wait and see. =P Next chapter she'll be passing out the cookies (FINALLY! Yeah, I know, I know). :D Well, thanks to those of you who have reviewed my stories. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this! Oh, and sorry I didn't upload this yesterday, but I was at a baseball game and then I was just too lazy. :p haha. I hope you liked this chapter, even if it's sad!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it.

Claire didn't bother heading to the mines or going fishing. She wasn't sure how long it would take to deliver all the cookies she had made, and she just didn't feel like doing anything but taking care of her animals. Ezra had seemed to sense this as well, pushing her out of the stall after a half hour spent in there. Or maybe he just wanted her to leave.

"Can't rule out all of the options. I should have learned that by now," Claire told herself, heading to Rick's house first.

Before she entered, she silently prayed to the Harvest Goddess that Karen wouldn't be in there. _She'll be so mad_, she sang over and over again. _So so mad…_The door opened, however, and Popuri frowned.

"Claire? What are you doing here? Oh, did you bring cookies for my brother? Well come in before Karen gets here," she teased, pulling her friend into a tight hug before releasing her, pushing her to where her brother was standing, looking surprised.

"Claire?" he asked as well, tilting his head to the side, and then grinned when Claire pulled out his cookies, passing them to him. "Wow, thanks Claire!"

"Well, I told you I would thank you, wouldn't I?" the blonde teased, grinning as well. "Happy Valentine's Day, Rick! Please don't tell Karen I got those for you, she might hit me," she tacked on, to which Rick blushed and nodded. "Well, I'll see you guys later! Hope you're feeling better Lillia, see you soon Popuri!" she called over her shoulder, hurrying out the door. It was best to be pretty far away when Karen came in and found Rick with a batch of cookies from someone else.

_Just sitting there across the street, waiting._ Claire rolled my eyes. _Ginger UMA can hold his horses for just a little longer, can't he? He already has a batch of chocolate chip cookies to hold him over until I finish my round anyways..._

Claire decided to head over to the church instead. She could give Carter his extra special peppermint cookies, and Cliff would probably be there too, already holding the cookies Ann gave him and wearing his best smile. There was something very right about those two, about their smiles and actions and conversation. "Like Mary and Gray," the blonde added to herself.

Then again, she hadn't seen them talking very often. Just several times, including the night before. And Gray never smiled. Plus, Mary was too timid to ever just smile up at him. And their actions? Well, Gray looked through books and Mary watched him.

_So maybe they're not _that _romantic or anything, _Claire told herself as she hurried down the path towards the church. _But they're probably going to end up getting together soon. Mary's my best friend so…I'll help her. And I guess if the bigmouth would be happy with her I could push him too. That way maybe he won't be so mean_. It was hard to imagine Gray as anything but mean. Nice Gray? _How boring_.

"Why, Claire! Thank you! Peppermint cookies, these are delightful! My favorite," Carter took the cookies with a big flourish, lifting them to his face to breathe in the scent. "How thoughtful of you."

"They're the only cookies you'll eat Mr. Carter," Stu pointed out, giggling. Claire gestured for the young boy to come over to her, pulling another plate of cookies from her bag and holding it out to him silently. By the time he finally realized the cookies were actually his to have and not to hold, Claire was heading towards Cliff.

"Thanks Claire!" Stu bellowed from his spot, making May giggle.

"Stu, it's a church. You're supposed to be _quiet_," the child pointed out, flicking him with her pinkie finger and making him stick his tongue out.

"Why? It's not like a library. I thought we _wanted _the Harvest Goddess to hear us! How's she gonna hear us if we're _whispering_?"

Claire ignored their argument, laughing as she walked up to Cliff. "Hey there. How many batches of cookies have you gotten today? Ten, twenty?" she teased, making his cheeks turn red.

"Just one," he told her, lifting the plate she recognized as Ann's up. "I didn't expect any. It was very nice of Ann to give them to me," he spoke solemnly, but wore the dopiest grin Claire had ever seen on the boy's face.

"Well, let's make it two. Here you go, Cliff, I made some for you too," Claire told him, pulling another plate of cookies that were basically identical to the ones he already had from her bag, holding them out to him with a big grin.

He looked stunned now. "Really, Claire? Wow! Thanks! I didn't even get you anything on Spring 14, though…I'm sorry…"

Claire waved him off. "No need to apologize. You hardly knew me back on Spring 14, I would have been just a little freaked out if you showed up at my door with cookies," she teased. "Besides, you deserve them. You work really hard at the Winery all day!"

"Thanks to you," he pointed out with a grin. "Thanks again, Claire. For everything. Seriously."

"Don't even worry about it," Claire smiled. _Okay, so I did the right thing_, she decided as she looked at the three clearly more cheerful males in the church. _I guess it's a good thing I did all that stuff. All that money is worth their happiness, right?_ Well, that was what she wanted to think, if she wasn't too busy whimpering over her lost money and her argument with Gray and her current predicament. "I've got to head out, I've got a couple more deliveries to make. I'll probably see you tomorrow, though."

"Yeah, sure," Cliff shrugged, smiling still. "Thanks Claire!" How many times could someone thank you in a day without making _themselves _sick?

"No problem. Bye everyone!" the blonde waved as she headed out of the church, bowing respectfully to the graves beside it as she always did before continuing on her way.

She didn't have to go very far to get to the doctor's. _He_ probably already had plenty. Most of the girls on the island thought he was simply adorable. Claire, she didn't see it. But maybe that was just because he had poisoned her with all of those drinks. It's hard to think someone is cute when they nearly kill you constantly.

"Ah, Claire!" he exclaimed as soon as she walked in. "Here for an examination? Or perhaps you wanted to try out a new medicine?"

_Yes, kill me, put me out of my misery_, Claire told herself sarcastically. _That's _exactly_ what I need. _"No, no, I'm in a bit of a hurry actually, sorry. But I baked you some cookies, so I wanted to come by and drop them off," she held them out as proof, smiling innocently. Who could suggest that she had done all of this merely to get to one person's favorite cookies? Her motives were seal proof.

"Did you really?" the doctor asked cheerfully, and Claire froze up before he said, "Well that's fantastic. Thanks Claire, I'll add it to my little collection," he said teasingly, setting it on top of a pile of cookies on their only hospital bed.

"Boy, I hope nobody gets sick and needs a bed," Claire teased half-heartedly. The doctor shrugged, still wearing that cheerful smile. _I wonder if he'd clear off the bed if I passed out. Or maybe he would just keep on sitting there…letting the proof that everyone loves him show._

"Doctor, I got you-," Elli stopped in her tracks and a sad smile came over her face as she looked down at her cookies. "Oh…you already have so many…" she said with a nervous laugh, lowering than more and more until Claire realized she was reaching for the garbage can.

"No!" she exclaimed, and Elli lifted them back up, stunned. "I mean, yes, he has lots, but your cookies are the best! In fact, I love your cookies. In fact, they're so good, you will fall in love with her," Claire told the doctor very seriously, making him laugh and Elli blush.

She stuttered as she held them out to him, a small smile on her lips. "W-well, if you want them, you can have them…but I don't blame if you don't want them!"

Dr. Trent chuckled again. "Why, Elli, these are great! If Claire likes them, well…I know how tough she is with energy drinks. For her to like something, it must be fantastic! Thank you so much, Elli."

Claire rolled her eyes the second her back was to them, glaring at the door. _I'm sorry that I don't really like things that could make me _die_! _She bellowed in her mind, pushing the door open. Elli and Doctor, Cliff and Ann, Rick and Karen…Gray and Mary.

"Who am I kidding?" Claire asked herself, shrugging her shoulders, waving her arms in gesticulations even she didn't understand. "I don't like him. Maybe I _do _hate him, in fact. I was just acting stupid. Just getting a little ahead of myself. He's mean. He's a jerk. Nothing likeable. Nothing at all."

She looked at the library, where she was sure he would be waiting, and then turned and kept walking.

"I'll drop them off at Saibara's for him. It's Friday, not closed, not anything. And I'll pick up my watering can finally," she prepared her speech in her head as always. _Why hello Saibara- no, no, no I mustn't get another tool improved, I'm completely broke after last time, but I'll just take my watering can back- oh and could you tell Gray these are his? I don't want to run around looking for him…_

But when she stepped into the blacksmith's, she was surprised to see Mary inside too, along with Gray and Saibara as usual.

"Claire?" Mary asked, frowning, and then saw the last batch of cookies in the bag and smiled. "Oh, how good to see you, Claire! You brought cookies for Gray. That's very gentlewomanly of you," she said in a teasing tone.

"Gentlewoman is a word, you know," Claire retorted a little harshly before smiling and saying, "Yeah, I did. Sorry I snapped. I'm having a rough day. Oh, here," she shoved the cookies at Gray. "Anyways, I've got to split. I'll come by and visit you tomorrow, Mary. I have to get to the mines, I haven't gone yet."

Saibara cleared his throat.

"Oh, and I wanted to pick up my watering can. How silly of me, I forgot the whole reason I came here!" She didn't dare look at Gray as Saibara rummaged around and pulled it out. "This looks lovely. Thank you very much."

"Oh, Gray did it," the old man shrugged.

Claire chose to look at Gray's hat instead of at his face. _UMA. Us Major Assholes, United Major Assholes, United Mediocre Assholes. _There were tons of things to come from UMA. Claire wondered what it _really _stood for, but did it matter? _Watch it be something stupid like Under My…something that means hat that starts with an A._ "Oh. Well, then, Gray, this looks lovely. Thank you very much," Claire repeated in her robotic tone before she turned and headed out the door, grumbling to herself.

Mary met her at the door. "What's the matter, Claire?" she asked before the blonde could escape. "Are you alright? You seem a little down. You got all the cookies delivered, right?"

Claire shook her head obediently. "Nothing. I did. Have fun with Gray," she winked as covertly as possible, which wasn't very secretive at all, and then headed towards the mines, already pulling her hammer over her head, but let it fall when she reached her house, heading in and to her bed instead.

"I can skip mining for a day," she told herself, "Now that…well…I'm _definitely _not going to be needing a house extension anytime soon."

Author's Note: So there you go, those of you who have been waiting for her to pass out the cookies, but I'm sure you're disappointed that her and Gray didn't fall in love or something. =p Sorry. I hope you guys liked this chapter anyways, though! :D And to the person who asked why Claire suddenly likes Gray or something like that (sorry, I don't have the exact review in front of me right now), sorry if it seems like that. I put in little hints that she liked him, but she's a really stubborn girl and didn't want to admit it. But, after seeing what she saw, and knowing she was alone and safe to talk to someone who could never share her secret, she admitted it to herself, though she'd of course rather deny it than confront her feelings head on. :) So hopefully that clears that up...anyways, thanks for reading, thanks for all of the reviews, I'll try to answer any questions as best as I can and check out the stories of those who asked me too...thanks again! :D


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters.

"You know what there should be a book about?" Claire told Mary as she read through the books on farming- or at least flipped through the pages. Mary turned her inquisitive face to the girl, gesturing for her to continue. "The _real _world. Look, trust me, it's not that hard to use a watering can…in fact, since I've had mine upgraded, it only takes me ten minutes. But it _is _a little tricky doing real life things."

The timid girl put on such a wide grin it would have stunned anyone but Claire, who saw it often. "Like what?" she asked.

_Like, what to do if your best friend and you like the same guy,_ Claire started a list in your head. _How to tell if you like someone. How to tell if they like you. How to come to terms with liking someone. How to get two people together. How to move on and deal with the fact that you are going to die alone and even if you met someone you won't have enough money for a house extension for quite some time._

"Like, how to fall in love. Wouldn't that be something? A book about how to fall in love? Like step one: learn the rules of love. Step two: Pick a suitable mate. And each chapter would be really long, explaining the rules of love, helping you to decide how to pick someone to fall in love with," Claire's voice picked up speed until she was full on babbling, snapping the farming book closed- Mary winced- and replacing it to the shelf she had pulled it from. "It would make tons of money! People would eat that kind of stuff up!"

"People do write books like that, Claire," Mary pointed out. "I've seen books before on all kinds of childish things like boyfriends and friendships- advice books."

The blonde before her frowned. "Why are they 'childish?' It's real life stuff, people have to face relationship and friendships and everything that can come _between _them all the time," she argued.

Mary shook her head, pushing her glasses up higher on her nose. "I think it would be much more educational to read about things that are, well, educational. Or a fantasy book, perhaps, to help you forget all about that real life stuff, and delve into a new, better world."

"But that's not where we live!" Claire stood up, her voice rising. "Why pretend we live in a fairy tale world when we _don't_? We don't, Mary! We live here, in Mineral Town, where dreams can sometimes _die_, and things don't always go our way…"

The bespectacled girl nervously pushed her glasses up even higher. "Claire…is there something the matter? You're hardly ever like this…what's wrong? Is something bothering you?"

Claire sighed and shook her head, sitting back down. "No. I've just been a lot more tired lately. I think it's taking a toll on my attitude."

"Well, you had a good day yesterday, remember?" She asked with a grin. _Oh, right_, Claire huffed. _I delivered cookies and then you and Gray were hanging out and every other girl has someone but me. Everyone but me._

"Popuri!" Claire exclaimed, gasping. "Oh…oh…" _Kai isn't here during the Winter,_ she stated blankly in her head, staring at Mary with shock. "I'm going to go check on Popuri. I want to see how she's feeling. She must be so sad…could you imagine, your boyfriend being gone three seasons a year?"

Mary squeaked. "Well, me and Gray aren't going out yet…"

Claire's frown took over. "I was speaking hypothetically."

"Oh."

"Do you think…" Claire started, struggling with the words. "Do you think…he likes you back? Do you think you two will really end up getting together, going out, getting…married?"

Mary chuckled. "I have a feeling he might like me back, but I can never be sure. I stopped by yesterday to 'buy a necklace,'" she giggled as she put the quotation marks in the air. "But we didn't _really_ get a chance to talk...because Saibara was there, of course. Hmm. You want to hear something funny?" The blonde in front of her nodded. "I always thought that…well…that you liked Gray!" she exclaimed, laughing hysterically.

Claire laughed along, though when they stopped she was frowning. "I mean, you two were always arguing, but it always seemed like you liked him. At first I thought you might just be in denial, and needed a little push to make yourself like him. But the more I thought about it…I realized how silly I was being. Now I know you two would _never _like each other!"

A hollow feeling hit Claire's stomach. "Never ever," the girl laughed weakly.

_I was never in denial,_ Claire stated in her head. _I just didn't like him then. You know, you always want what you can't have? This will pass in time. I'm just being a big baby when I should be being a good friend. Or maybe I'm still in denial. No, no, that can't be!  
_

"I'll help you, like I said. I'll put aside my little anger with Gray and I'll try to make him just admit who he likes, and then we'll all be happy!" _Because when I remind myself of what a jerk he is, I can't _possibly _still like him. He's too big of a jerk for anyone to like! Well, except for Mary._

The black haired girl's wide smile filled her face. "Really, Claire? That's so nice of you! You're such a good friend. If there's ever something I can do to make _you _happy, trust me, I'll do it in a heartbeat. Oh, thank you!" she flung her arms over Claire, giggling happily.

The blonde in her embrace merely smiled, patting the girl's head. "No problem, Mary."

_"Look, isn't he cute?" Claire cooed as she held up her puppy to Popuri, who cooed right along with her._

_ "He's the cuuuuuutest! Yes you are!" the pink haired girl nuzzled Kanta's face with her own, batting her eyelashes at the puppy._

_ A harsh laugh sounded and Claire made a face._

_ "Uh oh," Popuri grinned. "Here it comes, Gray vs. Claire round…what are we up to now? 2000 at the _least_?" she teased. "I'm going to head inside. Don't want to get caught in the crossfire. But bring Kanta by anytime! Oh, and you might as well come as well," she told her friend affectionately, with the blonde rolling her eyes, laughing along._

_ When Popuri was safe inside her house, Claire turned to Gray with a stony expression. "What? You don't think Kanta is cute?"_

_ "You're real funny if you think _that's _a big deal," Gray sneered._

_ Claire narrowed her eyes. "Kanta is a big deal! He's a member of my family."_

_ That only made Gray laugh harder._

_ "What's your problem? Haven't you ever had a pet, Gray?" Claire snapped, hugging Kanta to her as he whimpered at the tone of her voice. "Or what, do you hate everyone, _including _animals?"_

_ Gray looked actually stricken for once. Usually, one of Claire's insults just made him laugh, but suddenly…that was how Claire knew she'd gone too far._

_ "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that," Claire immediately apologized, hugging Kanta a little tighter._

_ The blacksmith shrugged, pulling his cap down. "Doesn't matter. Besides, I _did _have a pet once."_

_ "Really? What happened to it?"_

Gray looked away for a second. "Her, not it. She got hit by a car when she tried to run across the road to me…it was when I visited the city a while ago."

_ Claire looked down at Kanta, stunned. "Gray…I'm sorry. That's awful. Don't feel bad, though. It wasn't your fault…"_

_ He shrugged. "You don't know that," he told her, heading into his work. He lingered at the door though, saying a gruff, brief, "Thanks," before he hurried in, slamming the door behind him._

"Ooh, Kanta you are so cute! Yes you are! Gosh, he just gets cuter every day!" Popuri sang as she bounced the ball away for him. He ran after it, scattering the clump of chickens everywhere as the two girls laughed, Kanta returning quickly.

"Doesn't he?" Claire added on, laughing. "Goddess, I can't get over how adorable he is. I've had him for almost three seasons and he's still _so _great. He chased away wild dogs the other night."

"Really?" Popuri gaped. She pet Kanta for a moment before tossing the ball, saying, "Aren't you a big strong dog, protecting your mommy's animals? What a good boy! That's great, Claire. I wish _we _had a dog to protect our chickens. We have to constantly repair the fences. If we had a dog things would be _so _much easier…but Rick hates dogs."

Claire sighed, nodding sympathetically. She was trying to ease the conversation onto Kai, but it seemed too hard to do without being blunt, so she said, "Does Kai like dogs?"

Popuri became flustered instantly. "W-w-well, I guess, I mean, I think so, I mean we were talking in letters, I mean not that we write to each other a lot, just like every week or so, and we were talking about dogs…" her friend sighed and then said simply, "Yes, he does. I miss him."

"One day he'll come, and he won't leave, Popuri. One day things will work out for you two, and he'll stick on the island, and you two will live happily ever after," Claire told her friend, picturing it in her head. Cocky Kai, she had disliked him so much until she had seen him with Popuri, until she had seen that complete vulnerability he had when he was with the girl. By the end of the summer, her and Kai were getting along just fine. Almost everyone who saw the way Popuri looked at him wanted to like him just as much as she did.

Popuri merely smiled. "One day," she repeated softly. "Maybe." There was a pause before she said, "But what about _your _happily ever after, Claire?"

"Huh?" Claire blinked her blue eyes several times, frowning. "I've got a long time before _my _happily ever after. My farm's still new!"

Popuri giggled and gently shoved her friend. "Your farm is _not _that big of a part of your happy ending, Claire. It's who'll be there with you. And I have a feeling there's a certain blacksmith you would love to be living the rest of your life with…"

Subtlety had never been Popuri's strong point.

"Saibara is a _little _old, Popuri," Claire stated, trying to keep a serious face. "Not that I haven't considered it before, or anything…"

Popuri couldn't help but laugh, though she shoved her friend a little harder. "I'm talking about the one you can hardly spend two minutes with without fighting!"

"The one my best friend likes?" Claire shot back.

Popuri gasped. "Oh…Goddess! I always had a feeling she liked him, but I wasn't sure. It's so obvious. Ooh, you're in such a tough spot Claire!"

_Tell me about it. _"It doesn't matter. You said it yourself, I can't stand being with him for longer than two minutes. We fight like crazy."

"So? Come on, think about it. Duke and Manna fight constantly, but they love each other. I've seen May and Stu get into so many little spats, but at the end of the day we all know they're meant to be."

"I threw a book at him, Popuri!" Claire cried out.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Like we all don't know that, Claire, after Manna found out the whole town knew. It's such a funny story, the way Kai tells it you would laugh your head off, I mean-," Claire glared. "Or maybe not. But so what? Trust me, I have seen Karen throw an _egg _at my brother before, and you know how much those two like each other."

"We'd never get along, Popuri. We would end up killing each other before the end of our _first _date!"

Popuri sighed. "You only fight with him because you're _denying _it, my little Claire. If you just admitted that you have feelings for Gray, than you could have your little happily ever after!"

"And what about Mary?" Claire shot back once again, putting her hands on her hips. Kanta was running laps around Popuri's feet, trying to get her attention, hoping she would throw the ball again, but the pink haired girl merely mimicked her friend's position and glared right back at her.

"You know how the saying goes!" she chimed.

"I already had this talk, Popuri."

"With who?"

Claire thought about her other night with Ezra in the stall. _What am I gonna tell her, that I talked to a horse_? "I know, I know. All's fair in love and war."

"Exactly," Popuri said victoriously, swinging her hips in some strange dance.

"But," Claire started, making Popuri stop and heave a heavy sigh. "What's the first rule of friendships?"

"Don't talk behind your friend's back," Popuri stated.

_Oh yeah. Forgot about that one. _"Okay, the second."

"Make time for your friends no matter what," the girl retorted, folding her arms defiantly.

Claire narrowed her eyes once more. _She's going to make this difficult, isn't she? _"The next rule!"

"Treat your friend the way you would want to be treated."

"Next!"

"Always keep your friend's best wishes in mind."

"Okay, Popuri, what is the rule that _I _am looking for?"

The girl finally sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay. I know. The golden rule of friendships: Don't make a move on someone your friend likes."

"Exactly. So my happily ever after will have to wait."

"That's hardly fair, Claire," Popuri responded sadly.

"All's fair in love and war, right?"

Author's Note: Sorry that this chapter is a bit of a downer compared to most. D: Poor Claire. But, the story's got several more chapters left, so don't worry everyone. =p Okay, well, thank you all SO much for the reviews. I love reading everything you guys have to say. It really cheers me up. :) And I'm sort of thinking of writing a story that reflects that book Claire had been talking about, a multichapter story about 'how to fall in love' with a Harvest Moon couple haha. I don't know, good idea or lame? What couple? Haha lot's of questions. :P Well, thank you for reading, and I hoped you liked this chapter despite the sadness. Thanks again! :D


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters.

"Hello Saibara! Gray! How are you two doing today?" Claire asked as cheerfully as she could the second she bounded in the next morning, carrying her hammer and a gold ore in her hands, 5000 G in her pocket. _I need to _really _pay Mary back for my temporary feelings about her boyfriend. My temporary insanity. I'm going to make it up to her. I've got to get rid of these stupid feelings. Feelings, that's where all the problems are.._.

Saibara grinned at the sight of what she held in her hands and Gray merely grunted as she marched up to the counter. "I would like you to upgrade my hammer, if you two have the time."

_Look at my broach_, Claire egged Gray on mentally, but he merely remained focused on some tiny spot on the wall. She had cleaned his broach until it shined, hoping that he might notice how well she took care of it. Didn't blacksmiths take extra note to how people treated their products? Well, _Claire _would have taken extra notice if she was a blacksmith…

"Well, it would be our pleasure. Right Gray?"

"…Right."

"That'll just be 5000 G, then, and I'll have Gray get to work on it starting tomorrow. It should be done in about two days. You can come pick it up, or I'll just have Gray take it to you one day," the old man told her. He was only ever polite when he was behind the counter, and she on the other side. Claire looked over at Gray, checking to see what kind of emotion this evoked, but he was merely grimacing at the wall now.

"Sounds great! Thank you," Claire told him, and then marched up to Gray, a smile on her face.

He frowned.

"I wanted to apologize. For…" _What was it that we fought about last time I talked to him? _She wondered. All she could remember was Rick and the dictionary…_Oh yeah! _Claire remembered suddenly. _I was staring at him and he thought I was having mood swings. _"For staring at you. And for shouting. And…well, I can't apologize for giving out the cookies. I wanted everyone to be happy, and it was nice seeing them all cheered up. I…" _Say something that will make it better! _"I think I'll make some of my girl friends some on Spring 14 too. Why not?"

"…I'm sorry, Claire," Gray spoke very stiffly, and very quietly. _So his grandfather won't hear…_ Claire realized, smiling up at him.

"You don't have to apolog-,"

"No, _you_ don't have to apologize," the red head mumbled, pulling his cap down to try and hide the blush on his cheeks. "I…overreacted. And…" he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. Really sorry. Okay?"

Claire hesitated. Normally, she would have cupped her hand to her ear and said, like before, "Excuse me? I didn't quite catch that." But this time…he was serious. She had never seen him so serious, in fact. "Well, it's okay Gray. I forgive you. The peace offering, remember?"

"You mean I didn't break it yet?" he asked, only half kidding.

"Oh, it'll take a lot more than that. I'm resilient. Like a…well, I don't know anything particularly resilient. But…" Claire stopped there, looking around awkwardly instead of at the blacksmith.

Gray grinned. "Like rubber?" he suggested.

"Resilient as rubber…ha, that's pretty good Gray-,"

"Gray, perhaps you'd better start on Claire's hammer now. Besides, you want to get to the library to see that girl, right?" Saibara interrupted, his face emotionless as he sorted through Claire's money. _What does he think, I'm going to short him? _The blonde raised an eyebrow as she watched the old man count quietly under his breath. _I'm not suicidal, he'd be furious!_

"Oh. Right. Sorry," Gray mumbled, picking up the hammer quickly, looking at Claire out of the corner of his eyes as he turned it over in his hands, waiting for her to leave- just in case he messed up, Claire figured.

"Sorry to get in the way," Claire stated politely, but Saibara merely grunted. "Bye. Thanks again," she waved once as Gray looked at her over his shoulder, and he nodded his head and she took her leave that instant.

_Damn it_! Claire yelled at herself. _I was supposed to ask him about Mary. Mary, Mary, Mary! I was too busy talking about resiliency. _

"Oh, look who it is. Coming out of the blacksmith's," a cheerful voice bellowed, and Claire turned to face Popuri, who was feeding the chickens, with a grin.

"Come on, I was just getting my hammer upgraded," she answered defiantly, but she couldn't quite keep her face straight.

Popuri laughed. "Sure you were. Run along, maybe you can get to the inn before him and then 'get something to eat,' if we're going to call our little run ins by code names."

"You are _so _immature," Claire retorted before sticking her tongue out, and when she walked away she could hear the girl laughing.

By the time Claire reached the library, she was back to fretting, however. _She's going to be so disappointed. All I did was get an apology. I was supposed to talk about _her_! _

"Claire!" the timid girl exclaimed with shock when the door flung open, and then her surprised expression softened into a smile. "How's your day been? Did all the farm work go well? How's business?"

"Booming," the blonde said playfully, collapsing into the same chair as always- the only chair. "The cows are doing good, the sheep are all shorn and clean, the horse is coming along, the chickens are hatching Grade A eggs now, and the crops are all…well, dead, because it's winter. But that's expected, of course."

"Oh, of course," Mary replied teasingly. "Did you come straight down here?"

Mary wasn't good at subtlety either, apparently._ She just wants to know if I talked to her little boyfriend_, Claire noted bitterly. _Or maybe I'm the one being a jerk, thinking that _she's _being a jerk._ Negative thinking always seemed to go in a circle. She smiled and shook her head. "Nah. I stopped by to get my hammer upgraded, but I haven't gotten a chance to talk to him yet. Soon, though."

"Oh, don't worry Claire, you don't have to. I mean, it's no big deal," she lied. Mary was never a good liar. _Shifty eyes! _Claire exclaimed, narrowing her own before she smiled again.

"Oh, it won't be a problem."

"Oh, but I don't want you to stress yourself!"

"Oh, it's no more stressful than single-handedly running a farm."

"Oh, okay then," Mary shrugged innocently, smiling again as she began to dust the books nobody touched.

Claire grumbled under her breath, but Mary didn't mind. _Either that or she's used to it. In fact, I mumble a lot_... "What would you do if…now, I'm not saying this is true! Not in a million years…but…" _Don't say it_, Claire pleaded with herself. She begged the sensible side to take over. _Do it. Ask her what she would do if you liked Gray. Ask her!_ her least favorite side chided, while her sensible side murmured gently in the back of her head_ Oh, come on Claire, don't start problems. This is your friend. She's such a good friend to you, don't hurt her... _"If I…" Before she could finish, the door swung open.

"Gray!" Mary squeaked. Claire exclaimed something too, but as Mary scolded her for it instantly she tried to just pretend she hadn't even said it.

"…Hey," he mumbled, heading to the bookcase.

Mary frowned. "Is something the matter?" she asked him, intertwining her fingers together as she held them innocently before her, smiling her sweetest smile at him.

He didn't even look at her. "Nothing," he snapped.

Claire stared blankly. _I thought they were 'almost going out!' _She complained. That meant she would have to do a whole lot more than she expected. _And _that meant she was soaring with happiness she felt instantly guilty for.

Mary looked miserable as she said, "Oh, okay," and headed back to her counter, staring at the papers. She was too sad to even massacre them in her attempts at straightening.

Claire got up, stretched herself out and headed over to the counter, stacking the messy papers as neatly as possible herself, setting them in front of her friend, and giving her a reassuring smile before she went to stand next to Gray, peering carefully at the books as if she were actually interested in them.

The blacksmith hesitantly looked down at her, and when a few minutes passed of her merely standing next to him, not saying a word, he finally asked, "_What _are you doing?"

She turned to him, looking him up and down before saying, "Didn't you tell me that I could go to the library instead of Rick's? I'm looking for the appropriate book. This could take a while."

He rolled his eyes. "You want to know what's wrong, I'm guessing?"

"Whoa, self absorbed much?" she raised her hands up as in defense before grinning and saying, "I'm kidding, kidding. Well, yes, I do _want _to know. Or I could just stand here in the…what section is this?"

"I'm not sure," Gray admitted. "I just came over here…"

Claire peered at Mary, who was nervously watching, and then playfully elbowed Gray, asking, "Do you come here for the librarian?"

He frowned at her as she winked several times. "…No," he told her, and she sighed.

"Okay, fine. Why do you come here? And what's wrong?"

"Calm down, Twenty Questions," he smirked at the books, scanning the titles carefully.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Okay, one at a time. Why do you always come to the library if not for the beautiful, sweet, funny and interesting librarian? Why not just go to the Inn?"

"Because it's quiet. And I don't like going to the Inn. Ann and Doug always make a fuss over me, Cliff is always depressed. I definitely don't want to stay with grandpa. There's really nowhere else for me to go…"

"The beach? Mountains?" Claire suggested, and then cursed herself. _Keep him _with _Mary, you idiot! _"Though the library is a much better choice than both of those, I mean boring old mountains and beach, exciting library! There's a world of knowledge here!"

Gray rolled his eyes. "I don't like the outside that much. I don't know. It's too…empty. Spacious. Look, can we just move onto the next question already?" he huffed.

Claire opened her mouth to say something, and then snapped it close. _Baby steps_, she scolded herself. _Throwing another book will do nothing for the peace offering._ "Okay, moving on. Why are you in a bad mood? What happened?"

"I'm not in a bad mood!"

"Okay snippy, whatever you say," she made a face before folding her arms and continuing to stand there, looking at the titles again.

A chuckle next to her let her know that she won. "Okay, fine. If I tell you, will you stop being my shadow?"

"Maybe," Claire sang.

He rolled his eyes once more, but finally spoke. "I…I kind of chipped a piece of your hammer off. Grandpa was yelling and I…hit it too hard. I mean, don't worry, I can fix it…but he got really mad, told me I wasn't paying attention…he's so good at being a blacksmith. I don't get it. He's so old…how can he be so strong?"

The blonde hesitated, looking up at Gray carefully. He avoided looking at her, merely staring at the books instead, but she spoke anyways. "Look, Gray…don't worry about it. Seriously. I would never have noticed, and…you're a great blacksmith. I mean, I always wear this broach," she pointed to her chest. "Only it's so hard to fasten! But I think that's just because of me, because I always have someone else fasten it for me and they do it just fine."

"It's harder to put things on yourself than to have other people do it for you," Gray told her.

"Amen," Claire murmured, listening to Gray's attempt at stifling his laughter before poking at a book called _Uncovering the Secrets of Mineral Town_. "Hey Mary, who wrote this one?"

The girl looked ecstatic to be brought into the conversation, squeezing herself in between the pair. Gray merely moved over for her, while Claire's content expression faded into a blank look. "Oh, my father wrote that."

"How many secrets can this town have? I mean, this book is huge," Claire held out her pinky and gaped. "It's as thick as my pinky is long!"

Gray snorted and Mary's cheeks flushed. "It's all about the plants on this island, you know how interested my father is…"

Claire peered guiltily at Mary's face and then pulled it from the shelf. "Well, I'd like to check it out."

Gray looked back at her with a raised eyebrow, and Mary hesitated. "You…you've never wanted to check out a book before, Claire," the girl pointed out, looking stunned.

"Well, this one just looks so interesting! I can't wait to read it! Your father's stories are so interesting." So she was laying it on a little thick, but she didn't care. The sad look on her best friend's face had convinced her.

"Well…okay," Mary shrugged, making Claire her own library card and checking the book out to her. "Just…bring it back when you finish, okay? I'll alert you if someone else wants to check it out."

_Yeah, likely_, Claire thought to herself as she looked at the book weighing her down. "No problem. I'll see you tomorrow!" she waved at her friend, heading out the door.

"Claire," a voice sounded, other footsteps joining her, and she turned with a small smile at Gray. _Do not be happy_, she commanded herself. "Why'd you do that?" he asked, looking at her strangely.

"Huh?" she asked. Had she done anything weird? She hadn't meant. Not this time, at least. "What did I do?"

He rolled his eyes and pointed at the book. "Do you _really _think that thing is going to be interesting?"

"Well…no, honestly, I don't."

"Then why'd you check it out?" he frowned.

"Because Mary was sad. And I wanted her to be happy. She's my best friend, Gray. I want her to always be happy. And if I have to check out this book and…" she sighed. "Actually _read_…the _whole _thing…then so be it."

Gray stopped, and Claire stopped as well, waiting to see if he was going to say anything. "You bought the broach because…you wanted me to feel better." He stated simply.

Claire hesitated and then nodded. "Honestly, yes. But then I liked it a lot. And now I wear it every day because it's pretty and nice."

He rolled his eyes- _When _doesn't _he?_- but grinned. "Thanks, Claire," he told her, grabbing the bill of his hat as he turned around, walking the opposite way to the Inn.

_That wasn't part of the plan_, Claire sighed to herself.

Author's Note: Okay, so I told someone that I would try to upload another chapter last night or this morning...but I got sick, didn't go to school, and I've been sleeping all day. Haha I am so sorry. I'll try to get another one up really soon to make up for it? Sorry! Thanks for the reviews though, as usual. They definitely make me feel better. :D I appreciate them a ton. And thank you for reading this, and for favoriting it/putting it on alert/I can't remember if there's something else you can do haha. Thank you for everything! :) I like this chapter a lot, actually. It's not as funny as the others, though I tried to slip a few things in, but it does cheer me up a little, in a weird way. I hope you guys like it too. And don't worry to the person who mentioned happy endings, my stories usually have happy endings. (I think I've only written two without a happy ending, actually, haha, and I made a second story for one and I'm thinking of making a second story to the other, which is called Engaged and it's about Chase and Akari, if anyone is interested in that pairing.) Anyways, don't worry about it. :D And thank you all for the ideas/advice/etc. Thank you so much! :DDD


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters.

"Claire, Claire, Claire," Popuri clucked, shaking her head. Kanta was at her feet, running laps as usual.

"Why does _my _dog like _you_ best?" Claire frowned, folding her arms.

"Claire, Claire, Claire, Claire, Claire," the girl replied simply, cooing _Claire Claire Claire Claire Claire! _To Kanta, who started to bark along with her.

"Popuri!" Claire whined. "Stop saying my name!"

"Claire-,"

"Popuri!"

"No, no, I was just starting! Claire, I'm sorry. It's just that, well…you shouldn't be trying to make other people happy all the time. You should really make sure _you're _happy before you move onto someone else," she sighed, picking Kanta up and swinging him around. "And maybe it's my motherly instinct. Animals can sense it, you know."

Claire rolled her eyes. "I'm sure."

"You're spending too much time with Gray. You're starting to get snotty like him," Popuri teased.

The blonde raised her hand to swat at her friend, but thought better of it as she looked at her dog swinging in the air. "Sorry. Anyways…I have to make sure Mary's happy though, Popuri. She's my best friend. It's like…she's like my sister. Sort of. In a way. Okay, not really. But imagine your best friend…"

"You're my best friend, Claire," Popuri rolled her eyes.

"Really? You're like my best friend too, don't worry," Claire fretted suddenly, making Popuri laugh. "Okay, fine! Would you rather want me happy, or yourself? Or is that a weird question to ask?"

"It's weird, but you're always weird. I'm rather used to it now," Popuri said thoughtfully, earning her a glare from her friend. "No offense," she tacked on, giggling. "And okay, I understand. I'd rather you were happy. But still…it's not fair. Wouldn't you rather I was happy too?"

"Of course."

"But I have the feeling…" Popuri said softly, "That Mary isn't thinking about your happiness. You know how she said that she thought you liked Gray before? Well, she had a feeling, and she still went on about him without ever just _asking _if you did. And trust me, just asking makes you stammer and blush and _then _it's painfully obvious."

Claire sighed. "She just…doesn't think it's possible. And it's not, anyways! Stop making me reconsider myself!"

The pink haired girl giggled again, cuddling Kanta at this point. "I'm not making you reconsider. I'm making you _realize _Claire. I'm not saying she's a bad person, or that she's not thinking of you ever, it's just that...well, when you think you've got a good thing going with a guy, you start to get blinded to other people's feelings. And you and Gray would be so perfect for each other. He's all mean and you're all snappy and you guys are totally sweet to everyone but each other but then you guys get those precious little moments…feeling anything?"

"Sick, actually. I'm gonna take Kanta home so I can go into the library. Mary's still antipets," she rolled her eyes, and Kanta reluctantly allowed himself to be transferred to her.

"Tell her I said hi," Popuri waved, "And if a certain _someone _drops in like he _always _does-,"

"I'll ignore him," Claire stated curtly just to upset the girl, who rolled her eyes, but waved nonetheless.

_"Gray is just so…one minute he's like…and the next! Ugh! You understand, right Mary?" Claire demanded of her friend._

_ They hadn't known each other for very long at that point, and Mary's eyes widened in surprise. "Well, sometimes he is a bit…surly."_

_ "Surly? What's that m- oh never mind. He's a jerk. UMA. I'd like to UMA him all over the place, Upturn Major A-,"_

_ Mary gasped._

_ "Oh, sorry. I forgot you don't like cursing. Well, it's okay, that was a terrible one anyways. I think about that a lot, actually. What UMA stands for. Do you know?" The black haired girl shook her head slowly. "Oh. Well…maybe one day I'll ask him. I don't know. Some day."_

_ "You really spend that much time thinking about Gray?" the girl asked curiously._

_ "What?" Claire gaped. "No! No! Of course not! No, no, no, no, that's insane. T-that's, that's crazy of course not, no! I just wonder about his h-hat, that's all, of course that's all!"_

_ "Oh," the girl shrugged. "Okay."_

"Oh, well, tell Popuri I said hi next time you see her," Mary shrugged. _She hasn't changed much_, Claire thought to herself. "Are you okay? You look a little pale. Did you overwork yourself again? Do you need something to drink?"

_Universal…Medical…Associated. No! Gray doesn't have anything to do with medical stuff, ugh._ "Yes, thank you," Claire stated politely, and Mary nodded, scurrying off to the 'secret always locked door' that she had shown her friend months ago, heading into the room again.

"That boy," Claire mumbled under her breath. "I waste too much time thinking about him and his _stupid_ hat." _Universal Men's Association. No, he's not gay! Or maybe…no, him and Mary… _Claire sighed. Her ideas were getting more and more far fetched, but it was always that one thing that brought her slamming back down to Earth.

"What are you sighing about?" Mary's gentle voice sounded, and she held out a glass of lemonade to Claire. Technically, drinks weren't allowed in the library. In fact, neither was dirt. But Mary always let it slide for her friend.

_Under...Mary's...Affection? _Claire sighed again. She had a hard time believing he had gotten a hat about Mary, but still...it fit, and it was coming true right before her eyes.

Mary was watching her very peculiarly. Claire's cheeks filled. "Oh, nothing, no one, nobody, not a single thing. I'm just sighing. Wow, tired." _Just drink, idiot_. She put the glass to her lips, grinning at Mary the same time she drank.

The girl began to smile back, and then she suddenly scurried to the door. "Oh, Gray's coming!" Mary squealed as she peered out the peephole.

Claire spit her drink out.

"Claire!" Mary whined. "Oh…oh…the mess…oh, it's okay. You just have a seat. Do you think you're going to throw up, is that why you spit it out? I've read about that before."

"Exactly!" Claire cried out, stabbing her finger in the air. "You're right! I thought I was going to throw up…so I spit the water out! Onto the floor. Sorry."

Her friend waved it off. "It's okay, don't worry about it, Claire. I'll go find some towels…I think I have some upstairs…I'll be right back!"

Gray opened the door as she was running up the stairs, frowning. "I thought you weren't allowed to run," he pointed out.

"You're not allowed to spit lemonade all over the floor, either," Claire gestured to the mess she had made.

The blacksmith smirked. "Is there a particular reason you soiled her library?"

"Why, does it upset you? Do you want Mary to be happy and have a clean library?" Claire demanded.

Gray gave her a weird look. "Maybe I'll just leave. You guys look kind of…" he snickered. "Busy."

"Claire, I found some towels!" Mary announced as she hurried down, and upon seeing Gray, 'tripped' over the last step, falling forward and towards him.

Of course he caught her, Claire cringed. _What was he going to do, let her drop? He likes her…of course he's going to help her keep up. Of course, of course, of course…_ "Are you okay?" he asked, holding onto her waist as she laid against his chest.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine," she slowly pushed herself up, scooping the towels back up with his assistance. "I can't believe that…I'm such a klutz. Thanks, Gray."

"Yeah, that was super thoughtful," Claire snapped, taking another drink of the remaining lemonade she had.

"Claire, you might not want to drink that. If you feel sick you'll spit it out again," Mary scolded as Gray sneered. Claire made a face and obediently nodded, setting the cup aside.

"I'll help you dry it, it's my fault," Claire got to her knees, and Mary dropped one of the towels down.

"Okay, Claire. If you insist. I'll go take your cup into the kitchen. Do you want a drink, Gray? Claire…do you want some…medicine?" she suggested, shrugging.

"No thanks," the pair said at they same time, and then glanced at each other before Mary left and Claire went back to scrubbing the floor dry.

Gray dropped to his knees beside her, using another towel that he had helped Mary gather. "I'll help you," he told her.

"You don't have to, it's fine. My fault," Claire sighed. _Just go live a fairytale life. Let Mary topple down the whole set of stairs and catch her and you'll stumble back into the rest of your stupid, dumb fairytale life_. She sighed again at her own thoughts. _I'm such a baby_.

He shook his head, helping her anyways. "So? Accidents happen. It's not fair to have you clean it all up. You deserve some help."

Claire let a small smile come onto her lips. She knew that she should be defending Mary, telling him that the only reason Mary _wasn't_ helping was because she was distracted, but instead she merely told him, "If you say so. Thanks, Gray." He grunted in response, and they silently scrubbed until all of the lemonade was soaked up.

Mary returned a few seconds later. "Oh, you cleaned too Gray? How thoughtful, thank you. I'll just run your towels into the laundry room!" she snatched them hurriedly, blushing when her fingers touched Gray's.

"How can you just let her do that?" the blacksmith asked, frowning and folding his arms.

Claire raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"If I let you clean something up yourself and then didn't thank you, you would have been all over me. But you just let _her _do it," Gray stated, his face blank.

The blonde considered this. "Well…Mary's got plenty on her mind. She runs a library all on her own. She's busy." _She'd rather flirt with you. You're all she can think about. She's trying to be a good friend, but it's hard when the guy you like is right there in front of you._ "And she's my best friend so, cleaning up a little spill isn't that big of a deal."

"_You _run a _farm _on your own," Gray rolled his eyes. "I mean, she said you were sick and then she's making you clean up your throw up?"

"It wasn't throw up! I just spit my drink everywhere. I was shocked into it," Claire argued defensively. "And like I said, she's just got lots on her mind. And that's okay with me."

"So why isn't it okay when _I'm_ an ass?" Gray retorted, his face now showing his frustration.

Claire glared at him. "Look, I don't want to break the peace offering, but if you're calling my best friend an ass, I might have too. "You're the ass, U-M-A!"

Gray made a confused face, frowning. "What are you talking about? U-M-A?"

The blonde went to snatch his hat, but his hand quickly flew to it. "U-M-A! It says so on your hat! I mean, I know you hardly ever take it off so you probably don't see it very often-,"

She was interrupted by Gray's laughter. "Uma, not U-M-A. Uma means horse in Japanese, Claire. I got it from a ranch."

_What? _"What?" Claire gasped. "You mean…all this time…that I thought U-M-A stood for something, it was just _uma_? It was just _horse_? Are you kidding me? All the wasted time!"

Gray's eyes widened. "You spend that much time thinking about me?"

"Claire! Sit down!" Mary gasped as she hurried in, running to her friend's side. "You look like you're about to fall over! I knew you were too sick to do anything…in fact, maybe you should just go home…in fact, I'm going to close up the library. I insist!"

The girl didn't take any longer thinking _that _over. "Well, if you insist. See the two of you later! I'm going to go home…make sure I don't throw up…pass out…the usual. Bye!" Mary reached out her hands to help her friend, but Claire dashed out before she got a chance to do anything.

By the time she got to her farm, her cheeks were tomato red.

Author's Note: Haha I love this chapter. Just because she finally learns about the true meaning of his hat. Actually, he lived on a ranch in the first game he appeared in, but I couldn't have him telling her that haha, so I just had him say he got it from a ranch. (: Anyways, the whole "Under Mary's Affection" idea was from IHeartQuestionMarkX and her friend Abi (she also knew about the uma=horse thing for a while :P). I thought it was just too clever to leave out, haha. Well I tried to get this out sooner than usual, so as soon as I woke up I got to my computer and I edited this and now you're reading it. :D Oh, and I hope you guys don't think Mary is mean after this. It's just that, when you like someone and you're torn between them and your friend, it's really tricky. You try to balance it, but it doesn't always come out perfect. She's really a good friend, but Gray is definitely distracting her. =p Anyways, thank you all soooooooo much. Honestly, I say that every time, and every time I want to just write a million o's because you guys are just really great. Thank you thank you thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, etc etc. It means a lot to me. Thanks! :DDD


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters.

The next morning, Claire woke up to a knock at her door. "Fantastic," she told Kanta, grumbling. "Let me guess! Another stupid _romantic _festival in which we have to take dates, so I'll have to go with some random guy or with friends even though I don't want to even go!" Another knock. "I'm coming, hold on!"

Kanta yipped along with her as she changed into her overalls, brushed her hair, quickly ate the tiny breakfast she was always supplemented with. "Okay, sorry it took so long," she finally said, swinging the door open. "Is there going to be a fes- oh, it's not Hamilton. It's you," Claire said blankly at Gray, who frowned. "Sorry, sorry, I meant…Oh! It's you! Go ahead and come in if you'd like or if you're just stopping by you don't have to and I'll just stop talking now…"

The blacksmith merely shrugged and stepped in, closing the door behind him. "I brought your hammer," he called, pulling it out from behind him, holding the handle out to the girl before him.

"Oh," Claire smiled, taking it and turning it over in her hands. "It looks great, Gray. Perfect. Thank you, I appreciate it. I kind of…" she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Forgot about it. I kind of liked being able to skip mining."

The boy tugged on his hat and shrugged. _Uma, _Claire scornfully thought. _All of that wasted time, and his hat just says horse... _"Well, maybe you should skip it anyways. You did look like you were going to pass out yesterday."

"I did? I guess. I mean…" Claire shrugged. "I didn't feel particularly sick."

"Then why'd you spit your lemonade all over the floor?" Gray asked, his tone mocking.

The blonde was used to that by now. She just rolled her eyes at him and placed her hammer into her pack, where it belonged. "Because she surprised me, okay? She said something that surprised me. So I spit it out everywhere. I couldn't help it. I was just trying to innocently drink…"

"What she said…surprised you?" Gray asked thoughtfully. "Like…in a good way…or a bad way?"

Claire froze. _Well, he'll never know_, she shrugged to herself. "A good way, I guess. Good for her, good for me. Good all around. Stupid good. It shouldn't _be _a good way but it was and…this sounds completely bizarre, doesn't it? It sounds weird, right? I'll just stop."

"No," Gray stated slowly. "I guess it…makes sense. I've got to go. My grandpa would be furious if I didn't get back soon. See you later, Claire," his lips slowly curled into what could almost be considered a smile, and then he let himself out, slamming the door shut behind him.

"That boy," Claire rolled her eyes. "He'll never make sense. Stay, Kanta," she told her dog, who obediently fell to the side and closed his eyes to sleep, and hurried out to her ranch.

Mary was reading a book when Claire entered, which wasn't that big of a surprise. "Whoa, Mary, what are you _doing_?" Claire called out however, making her friend squeak with shock. "Reading? In the _library_? How can you sleep at night?"

Her friend frowned. "What are you talking about? Where else would I read, if not the library?" Claire waited to see if maybe the girl was just trying to be funny as well, but she merely kept on with her sour face, pushing her glasses high onto the bridge of her nose and _still _looking down at her farmer friend with them.

"It was just…oh, never mind. How's your day been?" Claire asked cheerfully. There was no reason to be snotty back. She had skipped mining, hadn't she? She had had a nice time with her animals, had run into Ann and had a fun time chatting, and now she was here with her best friend. No reason to be upset.

However, Mary merely frowned again. "It's been just another average day, Claire."

"What's wrong? You seem a little upset…" the farmer spoke as gently as she could, hesitating with every word. It was rare that Mary was upset and hiding her emotions from Claire. Usually it was the other way around. Then again, Mary didn't often notice…and Claire did…but that was beside the point.

The black haired girl snapped her book shut, making Claire jump. "Nothing is the matter, Claire. And the library is closed today."

"But…it's Sunday. It's always open on Sundays. It's only closed on Mondays!" Claire protested, staring at her friend in confusion. "Did you save your page? I've never seen you not save your page…"

Mary pushed her hair from her face and then folded her arms. "I was only _perusing _the book, not reading it." Claire hesitated, opened her mouth, and then closed it. _Perhaps I shouldn't ask what perusing means right at this moment..._ "And I'm not feeling so well, Claire." She had avoided eye contact, but when she looked at her friend's hurt expression she sighed. "Gray was asking about you yesterday, you know."

Claire stiffened, trying not to make it noticeable by swinging her arms back and forth suddenly. "Really? Why? What did _he _want to know? Ooh, talking about me, that's a great excuse to get you two talking, you _both _know me!" the blonde exclaimed cheerfully, trying hard to find _some _way to remedy the situation.

"No, Claire. It is _not _a good excuse. He wanted to know why I didn't help you, and what I said to make you spit out your drink. I told him that I said nothing, only 'There's Gray,' or something of the sort."

"You _what_?" Claire shouted. "You told him that! Oh, that explains what he was going on about this morning…well this is just fan-freaking-tastic! Dammit! Dammit, dammit, dammit!" the farmer bellowed in the library, breaking several rules at once by being loud, being disruptive, and swearing.

Mary glared, folding her arms. "Oh, so now you're talking to him in the morning too? Well this is great, Claire. I wanted you to help me, and you just focused on yourself. Gray…Gray was right!" And _that _was how Claire knew a big insult was coming. "Y-you…you're self absorbed!"

The blonde gasped.

"That's right," Mary whimpered a little. "The library is closed! You…you…I'm afraid you need to leave now," she told the stunned girl before her, shooing her out.

When Claire was outside the door, it slammed behind her, and the little click that sounded told her that she had been locked out.

"What did I do?" she whispered, putting her face in her hands. "I messed everything up. _Everything_."

There are often times where you mess up, and there are times when you don't notice it, and there are times when you do, and there are times when you don't even mess up at all. That doesn't change the sense of realization you feel when someone tells it to you themselves. No matter the situation, if someone lets you know you messed up, you are always hit with that overwhelming wave of _I really messed up this time._

Claire started walking towards her home, arms folded, eyes down, feeling colder than she usually did in winter. She tried not to think, but thoughts came anyways. _What am I going to do_? Was one popular one. A few that frustrated her were, _Well, I've always got Popuri. _And _Now I could actually like Gray without feeling bad_. They were pushed back with _How can I even think things like that? _And _Mary is my best friend, and that can't just change over him._

"Claire?" _he _asked when she passed by Saibara's. "Are you okay?" She shrugged and kept on walking. "Claire, hold on," he insisted, and her steps hesitated. "I need to tell you something."

She turned to look at him, UMA cap down so low it was nearly written across his eyes. "No."

"No?" he retorted, already looking angry.

"No! I don't want to talk. I don't want to talk to _you_ especially! I just lost my best friend, and I messed up, it's my fault! And what if she never wants to talk to me?" she demanded, glaring at the blacksmith, _truly _shocking him for perhaps the first time. "I screwed everything up, and I _do not _want to talk to you…ever!"

He looked truly stunned at this point. So stunned, in fact, that he couldn't even pull a witty insult, a scorching comeback. He merely lifted his hat just a bit and looked down into her blue eyes, met them with his own, and then said, "Fine."

And that was it.

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is so short compared to the others. =/ I couldn't really bring myself to draw out Claire's sadness. But there's still several more chapters left so...don't panic. :) I'll try to get the next chapter out tonight or tomorrow morning so you guys don't have to wait too long. Thanks for reading, reviewing, everything! :D You guys are great. :)


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it.

"Claire! You can't just let Mary ruin things for you! What if Gray was going to tell you that he likes you too?" And that was the first thing Popuri said once Claire finished her entire story.

"Popuri!" the blonde erupted, "Things are already ruined! I lost my best friend and I blew up at Gray. And it doesn't even matter because he doesn't like me. Come on, Popuri. He spends all his time in the library with her. I don't care what he says, I wouldn't spend all my time in the library if I didn't like Mary. And now I'm yelling at you too…I'm sorry."

Popuri watched sadly as her friend buried her face in her hands, silent tears dripping from the cracks between her fingers. "Claire…" she whispered, petting her hair. "You told me what Gray said that morning…and it sounds like he had figured out that you liked him. And that he wanted to tell you that maybe he likes you too. I'm just saying…give it a shot."

"No," Claire whispered. "I can't. I just can't. I can't do that to a friend. No matter what you say she does to me, or what she really does do to me…I couldn't ever do that. I'm just…I can't. Even if things with Gray were perfect…it can…it can never work out," she shook her head, sniffling.

The pink haired girl was soon crying along with her friend. "Oh…oh, Claire. I promise, to you, my best friend-,"

"You're my best friend too, Popuri," the girl sniffled in reply. "I have more than one, you know."

Popuri giggled lightly through her tears, which were much noisier than Claire's. "I know, I know. I promise to you, best friend, that I will help fix things. I swear. I can fix it all."

Claire chuckled a little too, wiping the tears from her eyes. _I can't believe I'm crying over this_, she told herself, but in retrospect, she supposed that for this one occasion tears weren't _too _terrible. "I don't know about that, Popuri. I took things too far. I let them go on and on without talking about them. I tried to fix Mary up with the guy I liked and things got messed up and ugly and…it's just too late now."

"Oh, Claire," Popuri sighed sadly, opening her arms to her friend. The blonde hair was all you could see, as the girl collapsed into her friend, crying into her shoulder, hidden from everything else. And then, her friend laughed, saying only, "You underestimate me so, so much."

By the next day, everyone seemed to have kind words for Claire.

She managed to drag herself into town at two, taking the long way through the forest to get up through Barley's farm, heading around to the church, where Carter greeted her with a surprising hug. "Why, hello, my favorite little farmer!" he said teasingly upon seeing her. "How are you feeling today? Is there anything I can do for you? Would you like to talk about anything in particular?"

"I'm okay…" Claire shrugged, smiling politely at the priest. "I mean, I've been better…but I'll be fine, it's okay. Don't worry about me. I was just going to head in, give a little prayer to the Harvest Goddess." _That's one thing I can do that definitely _won't _make things worse, _she had decided, and so that was what she sought out to do.

It wasn't a big surprise that Cliff was there too.

"Claire!" he exclaimed when she finished her prayer in the back row and stood up, her pack bumping into the pew she was kneeling behind. He hurried back to her- was there a rule that you couldn't run in the church? Maybe she was just brainwashed from all of those library rules- and greeted her with another surprise: a big, warm smile. "How's your day been so far?"

"It's been okay. I just got into town. This was the first place I came to," Claire shrugged. "But my animals are healthy. I shipped a bunch of fish before I came. I guess I can't complain." _Much_.

"That's great to hear, Claire, really. Look, if you ever want to talk…I can listen."

Claire stared at him, stunned, before finally replying (after noticing his upset expression), "That's really nice of you, Cliff. Honestly. I appreciate it a lot. Maybe I'll take you up on that later." Talking to Gray's roommate wasn't exactly high on her list of things she wanted to do, but she wouldn't rule it out. After all of the things she had seen happen in Mineral Town, she had a feeling anything was possible.

After that, it was Karen who came up to her. At first, Claire cowered a little. She had seen Karen drunk and furious at the Inn, threatening to start a fight, and ever since she had broken one up and almost taken a punch, she had been just a little afraid of the girl. _Maybe she knows about the cookies. Ugh, all that stupid stuff I did to help Mary…and to make Gray believe that I wasn't courting Cliff…of course it was obvious that I liked him, I cared so much about who he thought I liked_.

However, the girl merely laughed and said, "What are you cowering for? Hey, I got you a present!" and pulled a chocolate bar from her bag. Claire eyed it suspiciously before taking it, and before she could say thank you Karen waved her down. "Don't worry about it. You deserve it, kiddo. You're one of the nicest people I've ever met."

"I think a few people would disagree with you there," Claire joked weakly, smiling at her chocolate and then the girl before her. "Thanks, Karen."

"Well, I can take 'em if they try anything," Karen gave a strangely very girly giggle, tacking on, "Don't sweat it, Claire. Have a nice time. Come by and visit every once in a while, okay?"

And then it was, oddly enough, Mayor Thomas who came around the corner and leapt out in front of her.

"Claire! Oh, I have a message for you!" he announced, having shocked her into leaping back three giant steps that had probably taken her a good minute to stroll through. "Ann would like to see you in the Inn. She said, 'Tell Claire not to skip out on visiting me, because I need to see her and she…' What was it again? Oh yes. 'And she will regret it if she doesn't show up.' So I must insist that you do indeed show," he chuckled on obliviously.

"Yeah, whatever," Claire shrugged.

"You're going, right?"

"I'm a little busy."

"But I insist."

"I'd rather not-,"

"Claire! You have already befriended the Mineral Townspeople, and it would only be cruel to stand sweet young Ann up on her invitation to you. Is that any way to repay them for all the kindness they've shown you?" the mayor scolded her, hands on his hips just like her mother had always stood.

The rancher folded her arms, attempting to stare him down as she had once been able to do to her mother, but he didn't move. _Same thing happened with mom_. "Okay, I'm going, I'm going," Claire sighed, turning and heading towards the Inn.

"Claire!" Ann shouted as soon as she spotted the blonde trying to quietly sneak up to her. "Get over here! Hey everyone, look who it is! It's Claire!"

Harris, Doug, Cliff and Duke looked up, all four lifting a hand simultaneously to wave as Ann embraced her friend.

"…Hi everyone…" Claire mumbled awkwardly, smiling at each of them.

"Well, aren't I glad that you showed up? You bumped into Thomas, hmm? Did he pass on my message? Because I had a _very _specific message that I wanted him to pass on and-,"

"Ann, Ann," Claire chuckled lowly, holding out a hand to stop her. "Don't worry. I got the message. We ran into each other outside…well, outside the library, on my way back from the store."

Ann threw her hands up cheerfully. "Well, this is _perfect_! Look, don't be mad at her, but Popuri filled me in on everything. Besides, everyone in town knows anyways. Mary told her mom, who told Manna, and well, you know Manna. Anyways, everyone's rallying behind you. You're Mineral Town's little farming sweetheart, and they can't stand to see you sad."

"Plus, Gray's even sadder than ever," Cliff murmured into his cup of grape juice. "He came home that night swearing and then when I asked what's wrong, he just snapped and said nothing…then after a few minutes he said, 'I just messed something pretty important up.'"

"Well, tell him he doesn't have to worry. My fault, my problem. He shouldn't feel bad about me and Mary not being so close anymore…"

Cliff frowned. "That's not really why he's upset, Claire…"

She shook her head, let her hair fall in her face, sniffing. "No. He doesn't…come on, guys. Gray spends all of his time in the library with Mary. Why else would he do it?"

"Because we don't get along," Ann stated simply. "He can't come here. I pester him if he stays in his room. Because I don't see why the boy won't just go out and enjoy the world-,"

"He _hates _the beach. Some stupid personal reason," Duke shrugged.

"Mountains are kind of tricky to get too. He'd either have to walk the long way, or go through your farm. In fact, not many of us ever go there. We don't really want to impose. I go through the long way just to make sure I don't interrupt your animals or your crops," Harris added on.

"He's not a very religious guy…he doesn't like staying with his grandpa…he likes animals but he's not a sociable person. The library is quiet, empty, Mary never talks to him, he doesn't have to worry about any social interaction. He can just sit and brood and read and think," Cliff said softly, sadly, as he took a drink.

"Oh…" Claire whispered. "Cliff, don't be sad…Harris, you can come through my farm any day, anyone can, I don't mind. Hates the beach? That's awful…I didn't know you two didn't get along, Ann!"

The red head shrugged. "Gray's a mystery. Everything we know about him is mysterious too. But we know that he _loooooveeesssss _you-,"

"It doesn't matter," Claire interrupted her. "I couldn't do that to Mary. Didn't Popuri tell you _that _part? I can't. I just can't hurt her." She opened her mouth to add more things on, but closed it every time, sighing and shaking her head when she eventually just gave up on trying to explain how she felt.

"But, if you didn't have to worry about Mary…you would actually try talking to Gray?" Ann asked, a little smirk on her lips.

Claire raised an eyebrow. "Why? What are you planning?!"

"Something good, Claire," Ann laughed. "Trust me."

Author's Note: I love Ann. Haha when I got FoMT she was the one I married. Then I got MFoMT and went for Gray. Anyways haha. So this chapter is another short one and not too much happens, but it's setting up for the next chapter, in which something might just happen. :D So don't give up hope for Gray and Claire and Mary and etc etc yet. Haha...hope you liked this one. I don't know, I like short chapters like this that just build on character, but I'm not sure if other people do or if it's just because I like writing so much hahaha. Well, thank you everyone for the same as always haha, all the reading, the reviewing, putting it on story alert and stuff like that. I can never remember all the things you can do...anyways, I appreciate it ALL. Thank you! :DDD I'll get my next chapter up tonight, probably. Thanks again!


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it.

"Are you _ready_? Are you excited?" Popuri sang cheerfully, scattering feed around the farm like she was a flower girl.

Claire rolled her eyes. When she was so happy, had she also been that annoying? The girl had been skipping and dancing and singing all morning, and it was beginning to grate on Claire's last nerve. "I don't even know what I should be excited for, Popuri. You and Ann haven't told me anything, remember?"

"Hey, you didn't tell any of us about your little blacksmith. We had to figure it out ourselves. Besides, don't be all mad. You'll find out soon enough. I'm just supposed to be keeping you occupied, anyways. You wanna help me with the feed?" she asked, holding out a fistful of chicken feed.

The blonde shrugged and took it. It wasn't like there was much else to do, and she was used to feeding her chickens, though she typically gave them what looked more like fodder than the grains in her hand. She distributed it as evenly as she could, loosening her grip, shaking it around. _Wish the Harvest Goddess would be a little more careful with how she spread _our _lives, _Claire sighed to herself. _Life would be so much simpler_.

_Then again,_ she added, as the chickens clumped together at one particular pile, _maybe she does, and we just mess it up. Or make it better. Who knows? The chickens might fight or they might make friends._

"Can't you just tell me now? I'm scared," Claire mumbled, shoving her hair away from her face as she watched the chickens.

"What?" the self-named "Chicken Girl" asked. "_You_, Claire, are scared? The girl who moved to this town all on her own, inherited an entire farm, rebuilt it, made it successful, made a bunch of friends, made a new life…you go traipsing around the forest and mining and all kinds of crazy things, and yet you're afraid of something so simple like this? You, honey, need to be brave. Like I know you can be."

The farmer hesitated, sighed, and then smiled. "Okay. I'll try to be brave, I guess. You make everything I do sound so great. But…I would never have bothered sticking around without you, Mary, Ann…" she looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. "You know. The mean little blacksmith who insulted me constantly."

"Oh, Claire," Popuri waved her hand. "You should have noticed by now. You and Gray argue, but at least he _talks _to you. He tries to ignore us constantly. Based on his typical reactions, he treats you like a queen."

The chickens had began to fight, but when Claire burst out laughing, they clumped together, scared as they huddled against one another.

By the time Ann came there to cart her off, Claire and Popuri were giggling like crazy, the chickens were all huddled up in little groups, and finally- _finally_- Claire's self esteem was rising again.

"Alright, Claire, it's time to go. And just remember: everyone is here and doing what they will do on their own accord. Except for you," Ann giggled from behind her hand, trying to hide her laughter.

With a heavy sigh, Claire rose to her feet from where she and Popuri had fallen into the grass. "Okay. Fine," she huffed, and then started laughing again before pausing, thinking, and asking, "You're not going to leave me, right?"

"Never, Claire," the red head promised, linking arms with her friend, shooting her a reassuring smile as she tugged her along with her, heading towards the beach. "You know what I want you to know, Claire? Do you want to guess?"

"I'd rather not…because I really don't know," the farmer admitted, laughing at herself and at her friend's expression.

"Well, I'll tell you anyways," Ann chuckled. "Claire…everything is going to be okay. You know that, don't you? Everything will turn out fine in the end."

Claire hesitated, and then finally asked, "How do you know that?"

Ann just smiled. "Because I have faith that you can fix anything."

_Anything? _Claire sighed again. _Everyone has faith in me…so why can't I just have faith in myself? _They were all so sure she could fix things…if she thought she could fix things, she would have tried to already. But she just didn't feel like she had it in her.

_"You, honey, need to be brave. Like I know you can be."_

"I really hope you're right, Popuri," Claire whispered.

When they reached the beach, there was nobody there.

"Why are we here, Ann?" Claire frowned. "I don't see anybody. Is this some sort of trick? Or are you just making fun of me because I said it sucked that Gray doesn't like the beach? And you know, I'm still wondering about that. If I was talking to him, I would go right up and ask-, "

"We're here because of her, Claire," Ann smiled, pulling her friend down the stairs, pointing to a small figure down the beach, in front of the ocean, arms folded, looking ahead.

"Mary…"

"Nearly everyone in town has had a chat with her. Not me, or Popuri, but everyone else. Made her feel guilty, made her realize that she hasn't been anywhere near as good as a friend as you have. They say that since you already admitted you made a mistake and tried to make up for it, she should be able to do the same. If you fix things with her…maybe you can fix things with Gray, too."

Claire opened and closed her mouth, nodding finally. "Okay," she said after a pause, "I'm going to go over there. Stay here, okay? Don't leave me?"

"I told you I wouldn't, didn't I?" the red head asked, gently pushing her friend. "Go on now! Go fix things, Claire! Don't be scared!"

Mary didn't turn until Claire was next to her, kicking gently at the sand. "It's cold," the blonde stated.

The girl beside her pushed her glasses up a little higher on her nose, finally looking _through _her glasses at Claire. "Yes. It's very cold. The winds seem to be stronger near the ocean. I've read so many books, but I've never read anything about the wind. And the sea shells are so peculiar."

Apparently the librarian didn't travel very far from her habitat often.

"There's a legend about the ocean," Claire said softly.

Mary's eyes widened a little, possibly astonished that she hadn't read about it somewhere. "Really?"

"Yes. A legend about the ocean that touches the shores of Mineral Town. Apparently, the Harvest Goddess wanted a child very badly many years ago when she became the Harvest Goddess- which is, of course, a whole other story in it's own- but, you know, she couldn't. It's not...possible, poor Goddess... The town was surrounded by land before, supposedly, you know. No beach. No shells. No nothing.

"She made these shells. I guess if you can't have what you want, you distract yourself with something else," Claire kicked at them gently. "She built each and every one with her own magic. At first they weren't very good, a little oddly shaped, but she got better and better. She still makes them, sometimes…of course, they're perfect now. She's had a lot of years of practice."

"How did the town get to have an ocean then?" Mary frowned, folding her arms against the wind.

Claire smiled a sad little smile. "Her tears. Like I said, this was many, many, many years ago. She cried and cried and cried so much that her tears stretched out until they reached the ocean, joined with it, mixed together. She created the winds to protect the sea shells. She thought that if she created winds, then her makeshift children would be safe. Nobody would stay on the beach long enough to collect them."

Mary stayed quiet for a long time, and then finally laughed and said, "Where did you ever hear that?"

"I read it in your father's book," Claire retorted smugly, shooting a tiny smirk at the girl.

Mary's laughter died. "What? That book you checked out? But…but my father only writes about plants…"

"Nope. He wrote on a few other sections. _The Secrets of Mineral Town, _right? That was in the legends section. I read the entire book."

The girl beside her gasped. "You read…you read _all _of it?"

"Of course."

"Why?"

"Because you're my best friend. Because I wanted you to be happy. I wanted to be able to talk to you about something that mattered to you. Because I love your family. Because it was interesting. Because your father is talented," Claire spoke quickly, staring at the waves that lapped at her shoes, pulled away the sea shell she had been kicking, dragged it into the ocean again.

Mary smiled. "You did a lot to try to keep me happy. And I did a lot that basically made sure you weren't happy."

Claire shrugged, smiling a small half smile. "You didn't mean too. When you think you've got a good thing going...well, most people aren't going to step back and think about every other thing."

"I'm sorry anyways, Claire. And…I think that my affection for Gray is very…superfluous."

"Huh?"

"Unessential. Unnecessary. He's just not the one for me, to be honest. He was very rude the other day. To be honest, we hadn't really talked before that. I built him up to be this special guy just because he spent time in my library. When everyone told me about the times they saw you and Gray together-,"

"They what?"

Mary laughed. "All of the townspeople have been rooting for you two. And I…I really ruined a good chance for you. Gray is not the one for me, he most certainly is not. But I have a little feeling in the pit of my stomach that says as much as it hurts, he's the one for you."

"I won't get with him if it hurts you, Mary. I swear. I mean, it doesn't matter anyways. Gray and I…" the blonde trailed off, merely shaking her head. Words failed her, and her eyes flooded with tears. She stayed silent, still wearing that strange, weak, empty smile.

"But it will hurt me far more for my best friend to be upset than for me to be a little sad about unrequited love. I've read many times that there is a knight in shining armor for everyone…let's just say Gray is not my knight. But with all the ores I've heard you've been giving him, he'll be at your door in some _golden _armor pretty soon…"

Claire hesitated before looking over at her friend, and when she saw the small smirk playing on the petite girl's lips, her laughter came out in short little shouts before she grabbed the girl, hugging her tightly.

"You're the best, Mary."

"No, you are, best friend," she replied, chuckling, and Claire started to laugh and cry all at once.

Author's Notes: I like this chapter a lot. :) I always think that character development and friendships are a lot more important to build on in books than relationships...well they're equally important, but I think a lot of people neglect friendships and just focus on love, when friendship is like just as important. Plus I guess I value it more. ANYWAYS haha I like this chapter and I hope you guys are happy to see Mary and Claire friends again haha. :D As always, I appreciate all the feedback. Thanks for reading! (=


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it.

Taking care of the animals the next morning seemed so boring. After spending the rest of the day catching up with Mary, retelling stories from the book, advertising the library to the rest of Mineral Town, being congratulated by said townspeople…normal farm life seemed boring. _Or safe_, Claire added as Ezra nuzzled into her neck. _Taking care of animals feels safe. I guess I like this feeling. Safe._

It was possibly the coldest day of Winter yet. Hamilton had woken her up bright and early to announce that the next day, Winter 24, would be the Starry Night Festival. "You'll probably want to bring a date," he had added, winking.

But Gray…Claire wasn't sure if she was up for patching things up with him. Maybe she would just celebrate on the farm, enjoy a peaceful, quiet night for once. A time to reflect. Maybe she would go up to the mountain summit. Maybe she would even find that flower Ellen had been talking about. Anything was possible, right?

"Ezra," Claire giggled, pushing the horse's head away. "I've got to go. I need to go visit Gotz. I _finally _saved up enough money for my house extension, and well…he likes to close the shop if I don't get there before one." She peered around before adding in a soft whisper, "He's not a very dedicated worker, you know."

Ezra whinnied and tried to grab Claire's hair, so the girl ducked out of the stable quickly, laughing as she jogged through the cold wind to the forest that apparently nobody but her, Harris and Gotz ever saw. Well, every once in a while she saw the Doctor or Basil, but it was pretty obvious that they took the long way around to avoid traipsing through her farm.

"Gotz!" Claire called when she reached the door and it wouldn't open. "Please open the shop? I'm here, and I finally have enough money for my house extension! Please take my money before I give it away for something!"

The door opened and she nearly fell in. "What are you talking about, giving your money away?"

"It's a really long story. And it's not very interesting, either," the girl laughed. "Thanks for opening up for me."

He shrugged. "You know, I've heard a bit about your long stories. Harris told me all the gossip the hens in town have been passing around regarding you and your little love triangle."

"Oh," Claire said simply, her cheeks red.

"You've heard about my wife and daughter, right?" he asked, a pained expression coming onto his face. "About how they died in the storm?"

The farmer hung her head sadly. "Yes, I've heard," she murmured, embarrassed of thinking so heavily of her problems. Here was someone with such huge loss on his shoulders, still managing to go on, and she had thrown such a fit over such little things…

"Harris once had a mighty crush on my girl," Gotz chuckled softly, sighing. "But that girl, Aja, Manna's daughter... Oh, boy. She complicated things. Aja and my daughter…best friends. Harris…loved them both in his own way. My, my, my. I had nearly forgotten all about this until I heard about your little story…"

He sounded so cheerful, despite the sadness in his eyes. Claire had never heard him speak so freely, speak so honestly. In fact, she had never heard him speak so _much_.

"But then the storm came. Killed my wife and my baby girl. Aja was broken up over losing her best friend, moved away. Harris lost both of the girls he liked so much and dedicated his life to his police work, making sure he could protect everyone to the best of his ability. Boy thinks he's a regular old Harvest God, but I know better. He can't stop no storms," the man sighed heavily.

"Spends an awful lot of his time in here, but I don't mind. He likes to see pictures of my girl, hear my stories about her, read her handwriting, see her things. I couldn't stand to move them. Couldn't stand to get read of her or her mother's things. Sometimes I really want to just ask the man…would he have picked that gossip girl, or mine?" he chuckled, and then shook his head.

"What I'm trying to get at Claire, is…well…you've heard the main rule of life, haven't you?"

The blonde hesitated. She had heard the main rule of relationships: all's fair in love and war; and she had heard the main rule of friendships: you don't make a move on someone your friend likes. But the rule of life? That would probably shortcut her through a few more mistakes.

"No, I haven't. But I'd like to," Claire told him honestly, feeling his sadness, feeling his grief. How many times had she talked to Gotz and never really thought about what was going on with him? With most of the townspeople she talked to, Claire tried to understand how they were feeling, but Gotz...a little pang of guilt hit her as well.

"Well, Claire, here's the rule of life. The only thing you need to know: Life isn't fair," he laughed hard at this, and then tacked on, "It wasn't fair that my daughter was taken when she was so young. It wasn't fair that my wife was taken when we were so in love. It wasn't fair that I got to live while they had to die. It wasn't fair that you came here to find out why your friend stopped writing and found him to be dead, was it? It wasn't fair that you had to fix so much stuff on that farm of yours.

"But we manage, don't we? I started this business, kept on going with it, and I honestly do help the town. You came here, built a farm, made friends. Do you understand me, Claire? Life's not fair, but it's not impossible. Trust me."

Claire smiled. "I…I…you're right, Gotz. Thank you-,"

He interrupted her before she could express the extreme gratitude she felt, the reassurance he had given her. "Don't worry about it, kid. House extension…it's gonna be 10,000 G. You got enough lumber for this? It's gonna be 700 pieces. That's a lot of hacking away." And just like that, he was back to the normal Gotz, back to his business, done with the sentimental speak. Done for that moment at least. Not forever, Claire hoped.

"I've got enough, sir. Trust _me_, I've been saving up for _quite _a while," the rancher laughed at her own little joke, pulling the money out and telling him where he could find the wood when he showed up the next day.

"The rule of life," she whispered to herself as she headed home. Suddenly, she felt like she could fly. "The rule of life…it's so simple!"

Her legs carried her into the blacksmith's before she could even think about the consequences. All she thought was _Popuri, Ann, Mary_, and how much she wanted to see their smile, and how she had a feeling a nice necklace as pretty as her broach would do just that.

She forgot Gray made her broach, of course.

"Claire! Our main source of income," Saibara exclaimed when she stepped in. A certain blacksmith in the corner took in a sharp breath, and so did Claire. _I guess I didn't think this through…_ "What can I get you today?"

"Huh? Oh, oh, yeah. Actually, I want to get three necklaces. With, um, different colors…"

"What colors?"

"Er…what colors are there?"

Saibara sighed, as if her lack of knowledge was so frustrating, as if she wasn't about to hand over 6000 more G. "Gray, would you please tell Claire the colors?"

Claire chuckled a little. _He has absolutely no idea what's going on_, she realized. Gray looked at his grandfather for a moment before he sighed the same sigh as well. He didn't bother looking at her, merely stared down at the ground, muttering, "Blue, green, red, purple, yellow, orange, white."

"Thanks," the farmer told the blacksmith. He smiled a small, very unGray smile. Not a sneer or a smirk. He wasn't laughing or mocking or insulting. He was just smiling his small smile. Claire smiled as well. "I'll get purple for Mary…red for Ann…and white for Popuri."

"6000 G!" Saibara said cheerfully. "Here you go, you're in luck, we have all colors in stock!" he told her, picking a box up from under the counter filled with different colored necklaces. _Yeah, I'm 'Lucky,' remember? _Claire mocked in her mind as she carefully pulled out her chosen necklaces, under the watchful eye of Saibara. _More like I'm the only one who buys stuff from here. And does he really think I'm going to steal a necklace?_

"Thank you," Claire smiled at the old man, hesitating at the door with a look over at Gray, whose hat was high enough for her to tell that he was looking back on her.

Saibara frowned. "Well...go on," he told her. "There's no need for you to be here anymore."

"Oh…right. Sorry," Claire mumbled, nodding her head apologetically and letting herself out of the door quickly, feeling stupid.

_I'll give Popuri her necklace first, _she figured. _Then head over to Ann's, and then to Mary's. I can hang out at the library too. That'll be fun…I'll tell Mary about the legend of how the fish got here_. Though, of course, that wasn't the most exciting tale in the book, Mary loved hearing all of the little legends Claire had picked up on, and Claire liked her friend to be happy.

"Wait!"

Claire hesitated for a long time before turning around, facing Gray, who was standing there looking just as shocked as she felt. "That was you, right?" she asked, blushing in embarrassment when the words left her mouth.

He grinned. "Yeah…that was me…"

"Alright, good. I'm not going crazy," Claire breathed a sigh of relief. For a second there, she had thought that maybe she was just imagining Gray running after her. Things like that just didn't happen in real life. Or at least not in _her _life…

"At least no more than usual."

"Very funny, Uma."

Gray grinned again. Every smile was like a prize, something that other people had trouble getting, and here Claire was getting plenty. She focused on his smile, saved it in her memory. Who knew if she'd see that smile again? "Claire…I kind of…" he started, and then sighed. "I kind of missed you."

Claire felt that if she had been drinking lemonade, she would have spit it out all over again. "You what?" she asked him, blinking repeatedly, as if one of the times that she opened her eyes would prove to her that this was a dream. Gray didn't say things like that. She had to be dreaming.

He ignored her question and stammered on. "I…I kind of…have something to tell you," he tugged the hat down over his red cheeks. In fact, they were just getting redder and redder by the second. In fact…

Claire stopped herself from going on when she realized that he wanted a reply. "Okay…" she started. "What is that you want to say, then? Go ahead and tell me what it is."

"Claire…I…I know I pick on you a lot. And that we fight a lot. And that I've called you a lot of names. But even through that I…" The hat was swallowing his face whole beneath it. "I like you, Claire. A lot."

The girl said nothing for several moments. In fact, she said nothing, period. Her eyes were wide, her cheeks were pink, there was a small smile on her face, but still all she did was stare at him blankly. Her heart raced, but he couldn't exactly feel that, could he? _Tell him_, she egged herself on. _Just go on and tell him…tell him…oh, just admit it! You like him, he likes you, it could work, it's going to work if you just open your mouth!_

"Claire?" Gray asked, his voice small.

She lifted her hand experimentally trying to make sure that she _could_ move, that she wasn't dreaming, and then she heard it. The beads of the necklaces clanked together, and she looked down and found the purple one first. "Mary…" she whispered, and then she looked at Gray, mouth open, stunned. "I…I have to go…I…"

She didn't finish what she was going to say. She just ran.

Author's Note: This is my very favorite chapter. I think this is one of my favorite things that I've written EVER. Haha I know the ending isn't the best but...I loved developing Gotz like that, I loved that little part, and Claire running away is a bit like something I would do, to be honest. Haha sorry for going on it's just that, I don't know, I have a good feeling about this chapter. Not being big headed or anything, I just liked it a lot more than anything else I've written so far haha. :P ANYWAYS sorry for the wait, I've been sick. It hasn't been a very long wait, I know, but I've been putting up like two chapters a day haha. I hope you guys liked this as much as I did, and I hope you're not getting annoyed by my rambling yet...and don't worry, there's still a couple more chapters. :) So take that as you will. Haha thanks for reading, reviewing, thanks for any type of feedback. I appreciate it SO MUCH. :D Thanks!


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it.

"Oh, Claire."

That was all Mary had been able to say. She walked around the library with her friend, gently touching the books that had given her comfort, and yet she had nothing of comfort to give to the blonde beside her. No books could offer the kind of comfort Claire yearned for, something to erase the embarrassment that showed in her cheeks.

"Oh, Claire." The beads of her new necklace tinkled together, and that seemed to snap Claire out of her trance once again.

"I know, I know. I'm so stupid! So, so stupid…but I just…I couldn't do that to you, Mary. I felt awful the entire time…like I was doing something so awful…" she trailed off there, shaking her head. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to see him the way I want to. All I can see is you and your happiness…I mean, don't blame yourself. It's just…I want you to be happy, Mary."

The librarian gently smoothed her friend's shirt down, and a billow of dust from the stables, barn and coop raised up, coating the coats beside them, making the girls laugh. "Claire…you know how Ellen's other grandson has been coming by weekly? The older one?"

Claire hesitated and then nodded. "Brandon? Yeah, sure. I've met him a couple of times when I went over there to visit her." How many times had she bumped into that guy while dropping in to visit Ellen? Blue eyes, black hair, she knew him almost as well as she knew one of the townspeople.

"Well…" Mary's cheeks reddened. "The other day he stopped by the library, and asked if I liked just reading or if I liked writing too. I told him that I liked writing and…he asked if he could see something I wrote. And now…well…I got a letter from him two days ago, and he's coming in about an hour. He wants to see what the festival is all about," she chuckled. "And well…it's sort of a date."

Claire gaped. "What? Seriously? Why didn't you tell me? Do you like him? Do you think he's cute? Do you think you two will get _married_?!"

Her friend laughed at Claire's back-to-normal strangeness, letting her glasses slide, for once, a little down the bridge of her nose. "I didn't want to tell you until you got things sorted out with Gray, because I wanted you to have someone too. I wasn't sure if you were going to ask anyone to the festival…and well, yes…I do like him. And I do…" she blushed more than ever, "think he's rather cute…marriage is a long ways off, though!"

They laughed again, and then Claire smiled a little. "So you're…over Gray? Already?"

"Like I said…" Mary sighed, looking embarrassed. "I didn't like him as much as I thought I did. He was just…here…and most guys don't come into the library…Claire, go talk to him! I want you to be happy."

Claire smiled. "Okay, okay…I'll go try and find him…okay?"

Mary shoved her out the door, giggling. "You better!" she warned, waving Claire off as fast as she could.

The blonde grumbled down the street. She checked the Inn first, since it was there, but the doors were locked of course. Festival day. She checked the Blacksmith's, but was hit with the same problem.

And then she was hit with another realization.

She just wasn't going to find him. Everything was locked up, he couldn't go to the library anymore, he was probably off hiding somewhere, and she just wasn't going to find him.

"I guess…I'm going to be spending the Starry Night Festival…alone…anyways…" she mumbled to herself, heading to her house. Hadn't she planned a quiet night at home before? Well, it looked like that was what she was going to get.

When it got to six o' clock, she couldn't stand being in her house any longer. She couldn't go vent to Popuri, who was going to be on the phone with Kai all night, or Ann, who was going to be with Cliff, or Mary, who was apparently on the verge of having a boyfriend. _Everyone paired up but me. Back to how it should be_.

The beach _was _too cold though, so she headed to the mountains with extra jackets on. Might as well go to the summit like she had been thinking about…she hadn't ever gone there before, anyways. _Might as well go there alone and look at the sky, or something like that_, she shrugged to herself.

When she first got to the mountain path, she found herself checking for the white flower. "Of course not," she sighed. "That would just be too easy, right?"

"What would be too easy?" a voice asked as Claire reached the summit, breathing hard from the climb.

Gray held his hand out to her, a halfhearted smile on his lips as he looked down at her.

Claire gasped again, somehow managing to hold her hand out to him, let him pull her up the last step. "I…I…you're…here. You're _here_."

He smiled a little more than before, holding onto her hand still. "Well…I can't go to the library. I hate the beach. I mean, I almost drowned when I was a little kid, so…I don't want to go anywhere else in town, and it wouldn't matter if I did because everything's locked up. I come to the mountains a lot- through the long way, don't worry- and…I don't know. I just hang out up here a lot."

The rancher continued to stare. "I…I can't believe it. I went looking for you, and you were here. Right past my farm. And I thought…" she laughed a little at herself, her fingers finally curling around his hand. "I thought that I just wouldn't find you."

"You were looking for me?" Gray asked, tilting his head to the side.

For a moment, Claire blushed, and then she laughed. "Of course I was! After I ran off yesterday, I had to find you, I had to apologize for being so crazy, I had to get some _answers_…I mean, I was just so shocked, I…"

Gray rolled his eyes, snickering a little. "Come on Claire. Why do you think I got so mad at you all the time. You were always flirting with other guys…or I guess just being nice, really. But I was so sure…with the cookies thing. Oh man, I can't believe you didn't realize it. I helped you clean up the lemonade, I didn't _kill _you when you threw a book at me…"

"You argued with me constantly, though…" Claire said softly. "I thought that you hated me."

Gray smirked, but then it softened as he squeezed her hand with surprising gentleness. "I don't get along with people, Claire. I mean, you know that. It was hard just to _fight _with you. I would try to say something, and I would just get so frustrated…"

"It's okay," she stopped him, grinning. "I just…I can't believe it."

"You still haven't told me if you feel the same way or not!"

Claire rolled her eyes this time, grinning still. "Gray…I mean…really. Come on. You have to know."

"But I wanna hear you say it," he retorted, smirking again.

She heaved a heavy sigh. "Of course I like you, Gray…I went through all that stuff just to make sure you didn't think I liked other people. I did all kinds of crap to talk to you. I…I acted like a total idiot whenever you were even just a little nice. I bought this broach- I mean, I've grown to love it, but still. I had been saving up all that money for a house extension and I spent it all on my watering can getting better so I could stay and talk to you, I gave you my best piece of material, and I baked all those cookies, which cost even _more _money just because I didn't want you to be upset."

A smile slowly spread across Gray's face. "You…you seriously did all of that?"

Claire dropped his hand, throwing her arms into the air with exasperation. "Yes! Of course! I even told you I was spending all that time thinking about you and your stupid hat, what did you expect?"

He rolled his eyes at her comment, but grinned at her, pulling it off to reveal the head of red hair Claire had known about all along, leaning closer to her. She closed the distance, sighing and leaning her forehead against his.

"I'm flattered," he teased her, slowly tilting his face until he kissed her, one hand moving up to her neck and the other winding itself into her hair. Claire broke away, laughing as she put her hands in the hair she had never truly seen before, kissing him again after he rolled his eyes for, of course, the millionth time, a smirk on his lips.

"You know, since you're already here…" he said when he pulled away, setting his hands on her waist instead. "And since you were looking for me and all…do you want to just stay up here and spend the Starry Night Festival with me?"

He couldn't hide the nervous edge to his voice, and Claire smiled at that, throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. "Why do you think I went looking for you, Uma?" she demanded, leaning close to him and then grinning when they were inches apart, holding eye contact.

"You're _such _a tease," he laughed a real laugh, kissing her once again. "Don't call me Uma, farmgirl."

"Don't call me farmgirl, horsey."

He shoved her to the side as the sky darkened more and more, the stars barely beginning to twinkle in the sky.

"Don't get violent, Uma," Claire mocked him, smirking and waiting to see what he had to say to that.

"Says the one who threw a book at me."

"One time!"

Author's Note: :DDD I feel terrible, I made you guys sift through fourteen chapters until you get a scene where they both admit their feelings to each other without the other running off haha. I had to throw in some arguments of course, it's _Gray _and _Claire_. :P But I've got one more chapter left, the epilogue, so that will be coming up shortly. :) I hope you all enjoyed this! Thanks for reading, reviewing, etc etc etc etc. (=


	15. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it.

"Kai!" Claire laughed when she opened her door to find him standing there, looking the same as always. Same tanned skin, same purple bandanna, same lopsided smile. "I thought it was still Spring…"

"It is, technically. But tomorrow is the first day of Summer and I wanted to come early…so I could surprise Popuri. And since she told me how close you two have gotten…I wanted to know if you would give me some advice," Kai told her, pulling her into an one armed hug, a sheepish smile on his face.

A big grin spread across her face. "Oh, really? What is it? Tell me!"

"That's what I'm here for," the boy rolled his eyes, laughing. Then, with a small, embarrassed grin, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny red velvety box, his cheeks red for the first time since she had met him. He opened it, showing her the tiny diamond ring inside. "Do you…do you think Popuri will like it?"

Claire gasped. "You mean…you mean…you're going to stay here now?"

"I just…I can't stand being away from her for three seasons of a year. I know I've always been a bit of a flirt but…I want to settle down, and there's nobody I want to stay with for the rest of my life more than her. Do you think she'll like the ring, though? I told Gray a few weeks ago and I had him make it…oh, speaking of Gray…" he started, wearing a teasing smile.

The rancher shot him a pointed look. "Oh, you shut up, Kai. And of course Popuri will like it! She loves jewelry, she loves you, this is perfect! Oh, you're going to get married!" Claire shouted, jumping up and down.

He smirked a bit. "Hey, she hasn't said yes yet. And _I _heard that _someone _just bought a big bed and moved it into her house…which could mean…"

"One more word and I might just hit you, Kai," Claire teased. "Go! Surprise Popuri! She'll be pretty mad at me if she finds out _I _was holding you. Besides, Karen and Rick went through my farm this morning to go to the mountains. It looked pretty serious, so he'll probably be out for a while…"

Kai grinned. "Thanks, Claire! I'll see you later…I'll tell you all about it! Thank you!" He took off towards the exit, and then stopped. "I _also _heard from Popuri who heard from Rick who heard from Karen that you bought a blue feather from her dad's store."

"Kai!"

"I'm going, I'm going," he laughed, sprinting off.

After taking care of her pets and her crops, the blonde found herself bouncing around, still full of energy, as she put her silver watering can away. "I guess it _was _worth it," she sighed to herself.

Claire headed towards the Inn, smiling at the blacksmith's as she passed by. _I'll see him soon…I'll see him soon…_ she tried to stop the blush on her face, but she couldn't help it. The more she thought about what was to come, the more she thought about him…

"Hey Ann!" Claire called when she walked in, and then froze when she saw her favorite red head sitting rather close to a certain tenant over a plate of spaghetti.

"Oh, Claire!" Ann giggled. "I thought you'd be-," she hesitated, looking at Cliff beside her. "I thought you'd be a little _busy _right about now. Or are you going to back out? Do I need to give you _the talk _all over again?"

Claire took on a terrified expression, calling out, "No, no, not the talk!" just to annoy her friend, who rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not backing out. I'm just biding my last few hours as a s-…well, you know. I'll just leave you two to it, though. Have fun Cliff, Ann," she smirked a little, laughing as Ann shot her a look, blushes lighting up both of their cheeks.

"Library," Claire decided when she got out. After hearing the latest news of three of the town's couples, she was getting a little nervous, and it was always her best friend who managed to talk her down when she was in these moods.

But when she stepped in and heard another voice, she knew that once again, another couple had thwarted her plans.

"Oh, Claire!" Mary squeaked, and Brandon pulled away from her neck instantly, laughing at her red cheeks.

"Hey Claire," he nodded to her with a grin. "What's up?"

"Oh…not much," the blonde waved her hand, shrugging, trying not to laugh for her friend's sake. "Just dropping in. I'll go drop somewhere else though. I'll just be…uh…"

"Heading to the blacksmith's?" Mary asked pointedly, giving her friend a stern look.

"I _will_! Later, though. Or maybe tomorrow…"

"Claire!" Mary and Brandon both shouted, looking frustrated.

Claire sighed. "Okay, okay. Fine. I'll go now. Maybe." They both frowned. "Okay, okay, I'll go see if he's there! But don't put it past him to run off somewhere else just to bug me. He probably knows, he's probably going to be avoiding me…what if he doesn't even want to get-,"

Brandon rolled his eyes. "You're such a conspiracy theorist."

"Is that even the correct way to say it?" Claire retorted, and the bickering pair turned to Mary, waiting for her to pick a side.

She grinned. "I have no idea. I mean, I thought gentlewoman wasn't a word and well…I guess I got proved wrong about a lot of things, didn't I?"

"It appears so," Claire teased, sticking her tongue out. "I'll leave you two be, then. See you later, guys!"

"Bye!" the couple chorused as she walked out.

Fear took her again, though, and instead of walking down to the blacksmith's, she turned and headed into Ellen's house. _I never did tell her that I couldn't find that stupid flower, after all…I wonder what was so special about it, anyways?_

When she stepped in, however, she was surprised to see the _doctor _there, holding out _the _white flower to Ellen.

Claire's jaw dropped. "How did you find that?" she asked him, forgetting about manners in that second. "I looked _everywhere _for that for the past two seasons!"

Ellen laughed, her eyes brighter than ever as she held the flower delicately in her tiny, weak fist. Dr. Trent spoke up, grinning as he told her, "Well, I actually found it in the summer…but the other day, Elli was telling me about it and, well, I had to give it to her. I just…" he trailed off, looking at Elli, and they smiled at each other.

"Oh. _Oh_!" Claire exclaimed, giggling. "Wow. Strike five, I'm out! Er, well, I've been out. Sort of…but I kept going…and I'm just gonna keep going! Have a nice day, you two!" The rancher smiled, laughing at herself, her spirits lifted at all the happy couples.

They looked at her in confusion, but she just kept on going, feeling lighter than air. She was going to find Gray! She was going to finally ask him! And then, in one week- if he said yes- they would finally be-

"Gray!" Claire exclaimed, her eyes huge as she bumped into the blacksmith.

He leapt back too, his cheeks red. "Uh…Claire…hey…" he smiled nervously, and they shared a brief kiss, both of them pulling away, looking panicked.

"I was…looking for you…sort of…" she admitted to him, shifting her eyes around, trying not to blush. After all the things she had encountered that had made her blush just that day, she was sure her cheeks were beat red by now.

"Yeah…so was I…a little…you can go ahead first, though," he told her, a playful smirk showing on his lips.

Claire rolled her eyes. _This day is supposed to be romantic, and I'm just going to end up throwing another book. _Her temper was especially up now that she was put into a tough spot, now that there was no backing down…

She took a deep breath.

She was going to ask him.

"Gray…I…well…okay…this is…well…we've only been going out for a while…but…I just…I feel like…and…well…a lot of people in this town move fast…it's like tradition…and I mean, I _sure _didn't get it at first…but now I understand…things are just…simple…here…"

Gray raised an eyebrow.

"What I'm trying to say, Gray, is…will you…will you…" she reached into her pocket at the same time as him.

"Will you marry me?" they both asked.

Claire frowned. "What are you playing at? I've got the blue feather,_ I'm_ asking _you _to marry me!"

Gray scoffed. "What are _you _going on about, waving your little feather around? I've got the ring and _I'm _asking you."

"Well, that's too bad, you have to answer me, because you didn't even get down on one knee!"

"So what?" Gray retorted, rolling his eyes. "I think my clothes are dirty enough without getting down on the ground. Besides, the _guy _is supposed to ask the_ girl_!"

"Wow, Gray, you sure woke up on the wrong side of the _cave _today!"

"That's not even funny, Claire."

"Yes it is, you just did your little half laugh thing."

"Half laugh thing?!"

"Yes, it sounds like you're choking, it's what you always do when I should be annoying but I'm really just _hilarious_," Claire folded her arms decisively, making him 'choke' with laughter again.

"Claire," Gray told her, grinning as he took the blue feather, holding his hand out for her's. "I do, okay?"

She held out her hand, allowing him to put the ring onto her finger. "I do too, Uma."

"I'm calling the whole thing off, give me back the ring."

"No!"

"Oh, and I thought you didn't like it."

"I never said _that_," Claire snapped, "I said 'What are you playing at?' I thought the blue feather was traditional!"

"And a _ring _is traditional in the city, where you're from."

"Good point, U-…Gray," the rancher smiled, holding onto her fiancée's cheeks as she stood on her tip toes, kissing him and knocking his hat to the ground all at once.

His cheeks reddened as he picked up his hat, dusting it off before he met her smirk, rolling his eyes one last time before he gave her a smile, kissing her once again.

"I love you, farmgirl."

"I love you too, Uma.

Author's Note: :D I had to end the story with everyone having a happy ending. Haha. I liked this, and hopefully you guys did too. I had a lot of fun writing this story! Everyone keeps telling me to keep going, but I'm afraid it's over now...is there even anything else to write about? :P I feel sort of sad finishing this off...but oh well. Thanks a lot to everyone who gave any sort of feedback while I was publishing this story. I really do appreciate it. :) Thank you thank you thank you! :DDDD


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